17 Mar 2021

I was thinking about Hinksmans again and found an interesting thesis about the wives of soldiers during the Peninsula War of 1808/9¹ which confirmed that many wives would travel abroad with their husbands.

I’d still like to find more records of the Hinksmans between 1809 and 1819 to tie Jane to either William or Edward. I searched all the suffolk records I had and there really are almost no mentions of Hinksman. The only burial of a Hinksman in the whole of Suffolk was Maria, Jane’s daughter. I did find a marriage of a Susan Hinkman in 1811 who could be the widow of Edward who died in 1808.

Marriage in Weston, St. Peter, Suffolk on 13 Jan 1811. William Beck and Susan Hinkman.

I looked for them in the census on Ancestry and found them living with a Robert Laffin age 80 which, since Susan’s maiden name was Liffin, almost certainly connects this with Edward’s wife. Unfortunately her father’s name was not recorded on the marriage record.

1841 Census for Weston Parish, Wangford Hundred, Beccles sub-registration district²

I had thought that ages were rounded to the nearest 5 years in the 1841 census but other entries on the same page have exact ages.

This suggests she was born in 1791, which means that Susan was aged 20 when she married William Beck, and 15 when she married Edward Hinksman.

I realized that I didn’t have the baptism or marriage indexes that covered Woodbridge, which is in the Wilford deanery. I ordered them from the Suffolk Family History Society, which has improved its delivery to allow electronic downloads!

Unfortunately there are no Hinksman baptisms at all between 1754 and 1900 in the Carlford and Wilford deaneries that cover Woodbridge. The only marriage was that of Edward Hinksman and Susan Liffin:

Marriage in Woodbridge, Suffolk on 17 Mar 1806 between Edward Hinksman, 4 Regt Foot and Susan Liffin.

I tried to find her baptism record but there was no trace in the Carlford, Wilford, Lothingland, Hartismere, Dunwich, South Elmham, Wangford or Hoxne deaneries. There was a cluster of Liffins in Lowestoft (Lothingland) and Beccles and Weston (South Elmham/Wangford)

There is a notable researcher of the Hinxman family on Ancestry. He runs the hinxman.org website which I have seen before. I looked over his published trees but there didn’t seem to be anything that I could link to William or Edward Hinksman. I decided to write him a note:

Dear Richard,

My name is Ian Davis and I have for many years been tracing a branch of Hinksman, the ancestors of my great-great grandmother Elizabeth Hinksman, born 1862 in South Shields. Her father was Richard Hinksman b. 1833 in Beccles, Suffolk. He was the illegitimate child of Jane Hinksman, b. abt 1809 and spent much of his early life in the Shipmeadow Workhouse near Beccles before being apprenticed as a sailor. For many years that was the limit of my knowledge but recently I have uncovered some tantalising links to a branch of Hampshire Hinksmans and I wondered if you were able to connect them to your research.

I discovered that a Jane Hinksman married William Rouse in 1839 and died the following year which revealed her to be of the right age (33) for me to conisider her to be Richard’s mother. Her marriage certificate recorded her father as William Hinksman, a soldier. Previously I had found references at Kew to William Hinksman as a member of the 4th Infantry regiment, along with an Edward Hinksman who appears to be his younger brother or cousin. The marriage of Edward to Susan Liffin in Woodbridge, Suffolk (where the 4th were stationed in 1806) recorded William and Jane Hinksman as witnesses.

William appears to have married Jane Fisher in Cheriton, Kent in 1803 (again the 4th were stationed at Shorncliffe Army Camp near Cheriton).

William was recruited on 28 July 1799 with a note saying “N3 from private Sth Hants” and was promoted to corporal on 15 August 1799 with another note saying “from Sth. Hants”. Edward Hinksman was recruited 1803 in Southampton. He died in 1808, probably in Portugal during the Peninsular War. I have no record of William Hinksman after 1806. (these are from WO12, pieces 2197 to 2204).

I have some baptism indexes for Hampshire around that time and there are a number of Williams that could fit the bill but only one Edward baptised 1785 in Twyford, son of Edward and Jane Hinksman. Curiously there is a William baptised in 1777 in Twyford but to Edward and Mary Hinksman who have another child baptised that overlaps with the timeframe during which children of Edward and Jane were being baptised. There are no other Hinksman families in Twyford. I don’t have any further evidence to connect the families.

I wonder if any of this information connects with your research in some way? I know that you have extensively researched the Hinxmans of Titchfield and perhaps you have seen information relating to William or Edward. : Best Regards,

Ian Davis

I looked in the Suffolk Burial index for Susan Beck. I found two, only one of which was close to the right age:

Burial at Shipmeadow Union Workhouse on 19 Apr 1864, Susan Beck aged 73

This puts her year of birth as 1791 which matches the 1841 census entry. I should be able to find her in the 1851 and 1861 censuses.

In 1861 she is living in Pudding Moor, Beccles, widow, age 70, on parish relief. Her place of birth is Barsham, Suffolk³. In the next house is a Harriet Rouse, unmarried, age 45, shoe binder, born Beccles, Suffolk. I wonder if she is related to the Rouse that Jane Hinksman married.

In 1851 she is living in Park Cottage, Weston, Suffolk with her husband William⁴. She recorded as age 50[sic], a labourer’s wife born in Barsham, Suffolk. He is age 63, an agricultural labourer also born in Barsham.

I looked for her son Samuel Beck in 1851 and think I found him in the Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich age 19. He was a soldier and was recorded as being born in Weston, Suffolk⁵.

Her husband, William Beck, died in 1856:

Burial in Weston, St. Peter on 16 Mar 1856, William Beck, aged 70

I looked for any other children in the baptism index for South Elmham & Wangford deaneries:

• 26 Oct 1812, Beccles, St. Michael, William, Son of William and Susan Beck, bn 18 Oct, late Liffen
• 29 Jul 1815, Weston, St. Peter, James son of William and Susannah Beck, pb, see church wardens a/c book for year 1825
• 27 Feb 1817, Beccles, St. Michael, Henry, son of William and Susannah Beck, labourer, bn 23 February
• 23 Apr 1819, Beccles, St. Michael, Robert, son of William and Susan Beck, labourer, bn 13 Apr, late Liffen
• 2 Jul 1820, Weston, St. Peter, Robert, son of William and Susan Beck, labourer
• 22 May 1825, Weston, St. Peter, Hannah, dau of William and Susan Beck, labourer, bn 15 May, late Liffin

There are no other Becks/Beckes in the index. There is no trace of Samuel Beck shown on the 1841 census. He would have been born in 1833.

I was wondering if I could connect the Harriet Rouse shown living with Susan Liffin (Hinksman/Beck) to William Rouse who married Jane Hinksman. Susan Liffin would be Jane’s aunt. I looked again at the marriage certificate for Jane and William and noticed that the witnesses were William and Margaret Fisher, neither of whom could write their name. It is possible that these are relatives of Jane’s mother Jane Fisher, although that family came from Kent.

I did find a possible baptism for Harriet Rouse:

Baptism in Beccles, St. Michael on 20 Sep 1815, Harriet dau. of William and Sarah Rouse, gardener, bn 17 Sep, late Adams

I looked for William Rouse in the 1841 census. There are several living in the area but only one seemed to fit the criteria of a single man of the right age:

Wm Rouse, age 35, ag lab, living in Kirby Cane, Norfolk with or next to Willm Cossey and family⁶.

Kirby Cane is about 2 miles from Earsham where William and Jane married, and a similar distance from Beccles⁷:

This gives a birth year of 1806 for William Rouse.

I found the following baptism entry:

Baptism at Beccles, St. Michael on 15 Jul 1811, William son of William and Sarah Rous, bn 14 Jul, late Adams

This strongly suggests that Jane’s husband William was the brother of the Harriet Rouse who was living next door to Jane’s aunt Susan Beck in 1861.

These tentative threads are all starting to pull together!

Just before bed I spent some time browsing Hinksman information and I remembered that we already had Jane Hinksman’s baptism, as Jane Inkman in 1809, Colchester, Essex. Parents William and Jane. This had completely slipped my mind.

I tried to find any other children using familysearch.org and came across a baptism the next year:

Baptism at Essex, England on 11 Mar 1810, Maria Hinkman dau. of William and Jane Hinkman, born 1 Mar 1810

This is almost certainly Jane’s sister. The 4th infantry were stationed at Colchester in 1809 and most of 1810.

I also found some more references to William Hinksman in the WO 12 records at ancestry.co.uk

PIECE 2266, 25 December 1813 - 24 Mar 1813, 2nd Battalion Serjeant William Hinksman was recruiting at Colchester from 25 Mar to 24 June PIECE 2266, 25 Jun 1815 - 24 Sep 1815, 2nd Battalion Serjeant William Hinksman was recruiting at Deal from 25 Sep to 24 Dec

1815 is now the latest date we have for William Hinksman. He appears to have switched the home battalion. The 1st by that time had been fighting in America but in 1815 the 2nd were added and the regiment was sent to Flanders to battle Napoleon again at Waterloo. Every man present was awarded a silver medal and there is a record of John Hinksman receiving one. No such record exists for William. 134 men were killed at Waterloo. Was William one of them? The regiment remained in France until October 1818, when they returned to Winchester barracks for the winter and then set sail for the West Indies in February 1819. They remained in the Americas until March 1826 when they arrived at Gosport, then to Winchester. During its seven years in the West Indies the regiment lost 16 officers and 21 serjeants and 245 rank and file. They embarked for Portugal in January 1827.

How did his daughter end up being admitted to Shipmeadow Workhouse in 1826?