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THE RIDGERS FAMILY OF WINDLESHAM |
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Windlesham in 1909
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The Ridgers family of Windlesham, Surrey lived in the parish from at least 1802 when wheelwright Thomas Ridgers (1773-1853) married local girl Sarah Taylor (1786-1848), at Windlesham. The family name appears on many records in the Yateley, Sandhurst, Crondall and Farnborough area going back to the 16th century. Our tree has linked the Windlesham Ridgers, through those at Yateley to the early Crondall, Hampshire Rydyar family. Lawrence Rydyar who was born at Crondall in 1610 is shown as the great-grandfather of Robert Ridgers baptised at Yateley in 1706, the grandfather of Windlesham's Thomas (1773).
Our earliest Windlesham ancestor, Thomas Ridgers 1773-1854, named his birthplace as Farnborough on the 1851 census. We know he had at least ten surviving children. Sarah born at Windlesham in 1803, Thomas 1804, Ann 1807, Elizabeth 1809, Charlotte 1811, Harriett 1812, Hannah 1816, Martha 1818, Deborah 1819, George 1827, and Rebecca 1829. Thomas was apparently a wheelwright all his working life and was followed into the trade by his sons, Thomas and George.
First son Thomas married Sarah Waters, who was from Twickenham, in 1835. They had nine children - Thomas (1838), Abigail (1840), Frederick (1843), Rebecca (1846), Sarah (1847), Emily (1850), John (1854), George (1857) and Stephen (1860). The family were living at Chobham Road in 1851. Frederick Ridgers (1843) was trained as a wheelwright. In 1870 he married Selina Hattley (1843) at Windlesham. After moving to Henley-on-Thames they had a child Selina in 1871 who unfortunately died a few months later. They migrated to York, Ontario, Canada but in 1878 he also lost his wife. He remarried in 1882 to English-born Elizabeth Shairback (1850). His brother John Ridgers (1854) married Sarah Wilkes (1851) in 1878 at her home village in the Windsor area. In 1891 he was a coachman living at Cleveland Gardens, Barnes with six children, Alice (1876), George (1878), Thomas (1879), Frederick (1880), Beatrice (1882), and Walter (1887). Alice was born to Sarah before her marriage and retained her surname of Wilkes on the 1901 census. When checking that census it appears that something had happened to John and Sarah. Their children, with the exception of Thomas, are now living with the Seaman family in Putney.
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Thomas Ridgers & Sarah Taylor's first daughter Sarah Ridgers (1803) married Richard Attfield (1798) at Windlesham in 1823. They had seven children, James Attfield (1823), Charlotte (1827), Harriett (1829, Henry (1835), George (1835), Eliza (1839), and Rosina (1846). See Attfield Family web-page. |
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Our ancestor, wheelwright George Ridgers, born 1827, married Ann Varndell (1830), a local girl, at Windlesham in 1850. In 1851 their address was 15 High Street, Bagshot. They had five daughters, Mary (1851), Ellen (1854), Emily (1860), Deborah (1862) and Alice (1863) and two sons George (1856) and William (1857). They were unfortunate to lose 8 year old George and 2 year old Alice in 1865. George's surviving son, bricklayer William Ridgers, married Mary Ann Lee (born 1854) at Windlesham in 1882. They had seven children, Ernest (1883), Alfred (1886), Ethel (1887), Thomas (1890), William (1891), Walter (1894), and Elizabeth Annie (1895). Alfred (1886) married Sussex girl Rhoda Barden at Windlesham in 1914 and moved to West Sussex. Rhoda was the daughter of Samuel & Frances Barden who lived at St Leonards in Sussex. Alfred's daughter Joan (1916) a registered nurse, married Jesse Marchant in 1938. In World War 2 Jessie was a Petty Officer Stoker on Motor Torpedo Boats and was tragically killed during action off Northern France in 1941 after only three years of marriage. Joan married again in 1942 to Cyril Horrocks at Portsmouth. Her son, Anthony Marchant was born in 1940. His family have settled in Western Australia. Mary Ridgers (1851) married Gloucestershire born gardener George Wyatt (1845) at Bagshot in 1871. They settled in Bagshot until 1878 before moving to Teddington, Middlesex where their family finally totaled 12 children.
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Ernest Ridgers (1883) was a bricklayer. He married Mary Dance (1886) at Ross in Herefordshire in 1908. His son Ernest (1911) relates that Mary's father worked at the local tin-plate works in the Wye valley and can remember visiting their home near Ross-on-Wye. Ernest and Mary settled at the old family home in Windlesham and had eight children. Four boys and four girls. Ernest (1911), Allan (1913), Stanley (1915), Dorothy, Vera, Norah, Harold and Muriel (1921).
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If you have any Ridgers family memories or photos to share please contact me. tom.bint@tiscali.co.uk
YATELEY RIDGERS FAMILY HISTORY http://www.ridgers.org.uk/index.htm