George Alexander Woodhurst


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Brief biography

George Alexander Woodhurst was born to parents William (1) Woodhurst and his wife Elizabeth Clements. He was christened on June 24th 1821 at St. Paulinus Church in Crayford, Kent [British Vital Records: FHL Film 1469337]. His forenames may have been chosen to reflect those of the two husbands of his presumed aunt Rebecca (2), the second of whom she married in July 1821.

In 1837 George and his brother Richard William (1) appear to have been in Hertfordshire and in trouble with the law. A Sessions report published in The Hertford Mercury and Reformer on October 24th 1837 reads as follows:

Richard Woodhurst, (19), George Woodhurst, (12) and Thomas Lane, costermongers, were severally indicted for stealing a gown, of the value of four shillings, the property of Sylvia Green, at Cheshunt. The first named prisoner was Acquitted, but the two latter were convicted, and sentenced to five weeks' hard labour in the House of Correction, the last twenty-four hours to be solitary, and to be whipped.

The age of Richard cited above as 19 was correct, but that of George was either misreported or misrecorded - he was actually 15.

He died in 1839. His death certificate [Death Index: Poplar II 268, 1839 (Sept)] states that he died at 2, Adelaide Cottage in Grundy Street, Poplar on August 8th 1839. He is described as aged 18 and formerly occupied as an ostler. The cause of death was hepatitis. The informant, in attendance at the death, was his brother James (2) of the same address. It may be significant that James (2)'s father-in-law, William Bonner, was occupied as an ostler in 1841. George was buried on August 14th in the churchyard of All Saints in Poplar [All Saints Burial Register].

It is probable that his hepatitis had arisen from his incarceration and whipping in 1837, infection being rife at that period in the prisons.

By the time of the 1841 Census there were no Woodhursts living at 2, Adelaide Cottage, nor any apparently related persons. Grundy Street still exists and lies a little to the north of (and parallel to) today's East India Dock Road. It is less than half a mile east of Copenhagen Place in Limehouse where George's other brother Richard William (1) was living in 1844. Moreover, his sister Eliza (1) married near there in 1844.

Nothing more is currently known of him.