Mrs John Watson
(1828 - ? )
31 March 1862

Volume 6, page 147, sitting number 7458.

[Identified in the Silvy daybooks only as ‘Mrs Watson,’ the preceding entry is ‘John Watson.’ Portraits of the couple on eBay in May 2021 identified them more fully as Mr and Mrs Watson of Stamford Hill.]

Born in 1828 at Bentham in North Yorkshire, Elizabeth Overend was the daughter of John Overend and his wife Elizabeth née Parker. She was baptised at Bentham on 6 July 1828.

In 1851 she was living with her parents at Coatham Mundeville near Darlington. The census lists both her father and her brother as a ‘Flax Spinner.’

On 11 December 1851 at Darlington she became the second wife of civil engineer John Watson. An announcement of their marriage described has as the ‘daughter of John Overend, Esq., of Coatham Mundeville, near Darlington, and late of Bentham, Lancashire’ (York Herald, 13 December 1851).

In 1861 the couple were living at Albion Lodge in Stamford Hill with their children Lucy Elizabeth (8), John Overend (7), Emeline (5), Ada (3), Florence (2) and Nancy (6 months).

In 1881 the family was at 'More Coombe Lodge' [Morecambe Lodge] in Tottenham. John (65) still gave his profession as ‘civil engineer.’ Elizabeth (51) had four servants to help run her household. Also present on the night of the census were four daughters: Emiline (25), Ada May (23), Kate Nell (20) and Rose Olive (14).

I have been unable to trace her death.