Jane Harrison my great-great-grandmother.
Jane Harrison Brazier was born in 1827 in Bromley, Middlesex, to Hannah and George. Bromley here likely refers to Bromley St. Leonards in London’s East End, not the village south of London. She married William Charles Brazier in 1842 in Maidstone, Kent. They had eight children in 17 years. She died in March 1883 in London at the age of 56.
In the early 19th century, the legal minimum age of marriage in England was 14 for boys and 12 for girls, though parental consent was needed for anyone under 21. Jane Harrison married Frederick Charles Brazier in 1842 when she was fifteen and he was twenty. Weddings usually took place in the bride’s parish, but Jane and Frederick married in Maidstone, a place neither was connected to. I cannot find any reference to the marriage or a certificate. Their record may have been lost, but it is more likely they never formally married. Such informal marriages, often inaccurately called “common-law marriages,” were common and carried no stigma. Church weddings were expensive.
In 1844, Jane gave birth to her first child, Martha Rebecca Brazier. Her second child, Jane Elizabeth Brazier, was born two years later but died in the same year, 1846.
The 1851 Census shows Jane, Frederick, and Martha at 65 Back Street, Stratford le Bow, or simply Bow. Frederick is a “Starch Maker”. He may have worked at The Berger & Co. Rice Starch factory on Talwin Street and Grace Street in the Bromley-by-Bow area.
Sometime around 1856, the family moved to Hill Place, where daughters Hannah, Harriett, and Mary Ann were born.
Jane spent her last years at 12 Giraud Street, next door to her daughter, Hannah, and her son-in-law, Frederick Lines (my great-grandfather), and their family.
Jane Harrison Brazier died in March 1883.
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