Jane (Harvey) Spencer (1831 - 1912)

Born 1831 in St Osyth, Essex, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Richard George Spencer — married 9 Nov 1851 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 1912 at about age 81 in Harwich, Essex, England, United Kingdom

Biography

Jane Harvey was born in St Osyth, in Essex, and there she lived with her parents on the road leading to Dolts Farm. Her father, Robert, was like his own father, a gardener of St Osyth, and her mother Susan was from a shepherds family in Suffolk. By the age of 20 Jane was working in Ipswich as a house servant for some distant cousins, also of the Harvey family, who were successful shipbuilders from Wivenhoe, in Essex. The boss of the family, Thomas, was a first cousin once removed to Janes father, Robert. This meant that Thomas was Janes first cousin twice removed. The 1851 Census records how, at the age of 2O, Jane was living in Ipswich, at Wherstead Road, in the St Mary Stoke area. It was recorded that she was a servant working for the Harveys. The shipbuilder who was her boss, Thomas Harvey, was employing 75 men in his business. Jane had a romance with a baker, Richard Spencer, living on the same road, and got pregnant by him. They married in time for the babies birth, their son being born three months later. Jane and Richard moved to Harwich, first to Bath Side Court and then 5 Maria Street. Jane's widowed mother, Susan, came to live with her daughter in later life. By this time Jane was a widow living at 1 Canning Street in Harwich. Her mother Susan was a widow too, so they were both widows together. They were recorded there in the 1901 Census. Jane was then 68, and her mother, Susan Harvey, was 95.