Cawood Church. Clarissa Sturdy's ancestor was Churchwarden here, in the 1720s. Clarissa's father, William Sturdy and his brother, James Sturdy were christened here. As were Stephen Green the hauling man, in 1792 and John Fisher, survivor, in 1793. John Fisher's sister, Mary Cleveland, (our great-great-great grandmother) had a farm in Cawood village. Turner's boat was found here on the morning of December 27th, 1833.
Stordys in Cawood Parish Records
Clarissa Sturdy was the only victim to be pulled out of the water within minutes of the boat capsizing. Survivor George Eccles described what happened:
".... after I had got into the boat I saw something floating before us, and I desired the captain to assist me in reaching it. We first overtook two hats, the next was the body of Clarissa Sturdy, who was floating on the surface of the water, and we took her onto the boat. She was quite dead."
[Inquest, as reported in The York Courant].
Previously, the newspapers' reference to her father, William Sturdy being the Stillingfleet schoolmaster but 'formerly linen draper of York' have been all that was known of the Stordys.
"...Mr. Sturdy, school-master of Stillingfleet, formerly at this city, linen-draper..."
[York Herald, Tuesday December 28th, 1833].
We looked closer to home than York - and found them, and in the process of our research, unearthed Clarissa's link to an equally newsworthy story, of the summer of 1833.
James Sturdy was baptised on the 27th April, 1780, at Cawood, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Sturdy. Clarissa's father, William Sturdy, schoolmaster, was baptised on 13th May, 1782 in Cawood, son to Thomas Sturdy (gardener) and his wife Elizabeth. One brother (James) was to cross the river to Kelfield in Stillingfleet parish, where he too became a gardener and farmer. William, meanwhile, probably served time in York as a linen draper to gain enough money to study to became a schoolteacher.
The Sturdys were an old farming family, with roots back into the 17thC in neighbouring Cawood, just over the river from Kelfield and Stillingfleet. Clarissa Sturdy's father, the schoolmaster William Sturdy, was reported in the newspapers as being 'late of York, a linen draper'. His roots, however, are closer to home. Stordys (later 'Sturdys'), seem to be listed consistently as gardeners and/or farmers.
Clarissa's uncle, James Sturdy, hit the headlines only 6 months earlier, when he allowed his barn to host the much anticipated, widely announed 'death by appointment' of the methodist mystic, Hannah Beedham.
"...Hannah has spent the last three months at the house of a Mr.Sturdy, of Kelfield, from whence she has made several preaching excursions; and where she was to have died. The young woman laid in bed the last 9 days, pretending illness; - and as the appointed day of her death (August 1st) drew nigh, the utmost interest and anxiety was evinced, respecting the result; many expecting her death, - others, calculating upon an expose. On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Kelfield was thronged by the visitants to the suppsoed inspired woman. These persons came, not only from the immediate neighbourhood, but from Ferrybridge, Doncaster, Leeds, &c. They were allowed free access to the damsel, who prayed with them..."
[Yorkshire Gazette, August 3rd, 1833]
The Gazette's reporter mentions Sturdy again, with not a little schadenfreude :
"...The awful hour at length arrived, and Mr.Sturdy's family, with many other friends, were in close attendance, watching her departure, and contributing, as they supposed, their kind offices to smooth her passage to the grave, such as moistening her lips with some liquid, as it customary when people are really dying..."
When she failed to meet her maker on cue, James Sturdy (who must have gone over to the Methodists, as Hannah was a ticket holding member of Kelfield Methodist chapel), must have been very embarrassed. The newspapers report Hannah Beedham's exploits with growing cynicism and out and out glee, when she failed to die, as promised, on August 1st, 1833. She had laid herself out in state in James Sturdy's Kelfield barn, and thousands of curious people from all over Yorkshire, filed past, in the hope of seeing a miracle. When she didn't die, Sturdy must have wondered how to extricate himself from the embarrassing situation - there was a guest that must have very suddenly outstayed her welcome! James must have managed to extricate himself, because Hannah seems to have ended her days in York.
Hannah was to die only a few years later, in the centre of York and is buried in an unmarked grave at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. She married William White, son of gardener, George White, Kelfield; on 29th December, 1836. It looks likely that William must have worked for Sturdy, in Kelfield, and maybe was one of the inner circle present at the 'death'. White and Hannah's children were born but seem to have vanished into the ether, as so far we have been unable to trace what became of them, but their father drifted into labouring jobs in York, one of many to come off the land in the 1840s and drift into urban labouring.
Chris Cade, writer of the only monograph on the life of Hannah Beedham, was unable to locate Sturdy's farm, but we were able to pinpoint it (photos coming soon!)
Sturdy's property (and it was fairly substantial) can be identified from the Tithe Apportionment map for 1838, which is held at the Borthwick Institute in York. James Sturdy's land included "North Field Close, Garth, Plantation and Ponds, Old Fish Ponds and 2 Orchards, shed, garden". (Plantation at this date in this part of Yorkshire, usually means a small copse). As the older Sturdy brother, James would have inherited more than William. Although we do find reversals in this pattern - in John Fisher's case, he is the oldest child and the elder of three sons but all his siblings became farmers or wives of substantial farmers, whilst he, the older, remained a labourer. But on the whole, in the 19thC, it usually followed that siblings' wealth decreased exponientially, in the ranks according to birth order.
Clarissa Sturdy was baptised 23.2.1817 at St Cuthbert's, York. Her sister Matilda Sturdy was christened 20.2.1822 at St Denis, York and youngest sister, Susanna Sturdy, 6.3.1825 at All Sts North St, York, suggesting the Sturdys moved around York in the years before they came to Stillingfleet. [IGI].
In the December 1833 Gazette article, the reporter seems to have spent some time with the Rev. Markham as he mentions 'waiting on him', and whilst most of the local papers, report Lord Beilby-Thompson's largesse in dragging the river and paying for the funeral, only the Gazette reports the part also played by the 'big' family over the river, the Milners of Nun Appleton - who happened to be David Markham's in-laws. The Gazette article is full of fervent admiration for Markham, and seems to come from within the Markham camp, at the eye of the storm, the night following the accident.
It's instructive that in this article, we discover "..The young women, had been educated in his [Markham's] school, and were the most exemplary in their lives and conduct..." From this, we can infer William Sturdy lost not only his daughter, that night, but half a dozen of his pupils. A knock-on effect may well have been that some of his other pupils would have had to leave school earlier than they would have, without their fathers to pay the fees. (In the days before th 1870 Education Act, school costed money - whilst churches might endow schools, and wealthier parishioners might fund the teachers' wages - there was still a price to be paid even for a rudimentary education). In other words, Sturdy's classroom was probably decimated by the accident. We know that there was an immediate swell of public sympathy for 'the Stillingfleet Orphans' - but by the early 1840s, some of the same orphans were forced on the parish, for poor relief.
Accounts of the Stillingfleet disaster suggest all 14 on board the boat that night were agricultural labourers and the daughters of labourers, and yet that was not the picture that emerged from our research. Clarissa Sturdy ('Clara' as the 'Gazette reporter of the December 1833 article names her), was undoubtedly middle class. Although the Kelfield Prophetess of the summer of 1833 and the Stillingfleet Disaster, midwinter 1833 both hit national headlines - no-one at the time and no subsequent researcher uncovered the link between them, that James Sturdy's niece died in the tragedy. Even in modern times, there are few ordinary families who hit the headlines twice in six months - for different reasons. And these days, it wouldn't go un-noticed!
Incidentally, it may be a sad by-product of Clara's slightly better-off status, that her body was the only one found on the night of the 26th December. By this date, a middle class young lady's clothing was likely to have been silk. The other girls and men would be wearing heavy wool, that would have filled with water easily and dragged them down more quickly.
The oft quoted 'teacher-cum-linen-draper' belies the fact that the Sturdys were educated, substantial (and by late 1833, notorious)! James Sturdy was sometimes described as 'gardener'; sometimes as a 'respected farmer' of Kelfield. The split between church and chapel in this family is typical of the 1830s, in this area. Even church singers in the Church of England parish churches, were often tempted over to the Methodists (some felt they had 'better' melodies!) Some seem to have gone back and forth, to the disgust of the vicars! We can infer that William Sturdy remained church not chapel, as the schoolmaster, his job would have depended on it. His daughter, Clarissa, would never have been on the boat, had it been otherwise. We can only speculate how embarrassing her uncle's hosting the-death-that-never-was, must have been to this young lady.
Sturdys
1720s
Baptisms register signed off by churchwardens, Thos Stordy and Thos Wildbore. Wildbore's profession is described elsewhere in register as 'farmer'.
Mar. 1720 James Stordy and Anne Mulkey, both of this parish, married by Banns Nov 29th
bap. March 1722. Ann, dr of James Stordy
bap. [date illegible, on 1725-6 page] Richard, ye son of James Stordy
bap. [June 14] Alice, ye dr of Thos. Stordy
bap. 11.9.1727 Susanna, ye dr of Thos. Stordy
1730s
bap. 24.9.1730 Frances, dr of Thos Stordy
bap. 14.12. 1732 Philip, son of James Stordy
bap. 10.3.1733 Philip, ye son of James Stordy
bap. 28.6.1738 James, ye son of James Stordy, decd.
bur.. 8.3.1738 James Stordy
1740s
mar. 13.11.1740 John Stordy and Ann Crookdale
bap. 23.10.1741 Margaret ye dr of John Stordy
[A John Stordy's children's baptisms occur in Naburn, over the river, in the 1740s and 50s, and we found no Cawood references to the name at this time].
1770s
bap. 18.12.1777 John, son of Thos Stordy, Gardener, born 28.11.1777
[Dade bap. entry].
INFANT CHRISTIAN NAME & SENIORITY: Thomas, second son of STORDY
Father's Name, Profession, Descent and Abode: Thomas Stordy of Cawood, Gardener, son of John Stordy of Cawood, Gardener, by Eliz. dr of John Stephenson of Wistow, Farmer.
Mother's Name and Descent: Eliz, dr. of John Robson of [Thaxendale?], Labourer, by Ann dr of John Thompson of Thaxindale, Labr. (Thixendale, Wharram Percy?)
BORN on Wednesday 13th January. Xianed Monday 1st February, 1779.
1780s
bap. William Sturdy, son Thos Sturdy, Gardener and Eliz. his wife. bap 13.5.1782.
From Stillingfleet Parish Records:
bap. Ann Stordy, daughter of James Stordy of Kelfield, Gardiner and Sarah his wife. 7.6.1810
bur. William Stordy, son James Stordy of Kelfield, Gardinor, and Sarah his wife. 5.6.1812
bap. Wm, son of James and Sarah Stordy, Kelfield, Gardener. 4.7.1813
bap. Elizabeth, dr of James Stordy, 13.8.1815
Census
Om 1841 and 1851 Census, there are no Sturdys in Stillingfleet. William and his wife Susanna, could be found at Newton on Ouse, Yorkshire - in the same village John Fisher's brother, William Fisher, was a farmer.
Sturdy William, 50, schoolmaster
Sturdy Susanna, 50, Schoolmistress
Sturdy Matilda, 15
Sturdy Susanna, 15
From this, we can see that Clara had younger, sisters although they weren't twins - the 1841 Census is notorious for rounding ages up or down. (Compare Williams' actual baptism date to the age he gives on the 1841 Census! The most extreme example of this we have seen, is a man of 64 giving, or been given, the age of 50, on the same census in Stillingfleet!)
The Sturdy girls were probably born when William was still a linen draper, as on the 1851 Census, Matilda's birthplace is given as York, William's as Cawood (which confirms he is the William Sturdy who was brother to James Sturdy), and his wife, Susannah's birthplace Stamford, Lincolnshire. Again, conferring some degree of difference on the Sturdys as if you walked through Stillingfleet on the night of the census, 1841 or '51, you'd be hard put to find anyone born outside Yorkshire - and not many outside the parish!
A William Sturdy is a witness at the 1844 wedding of Jane Linyard and George Smith - he has a beautiful, Copperplate hand. But we cannot say whether this is Clara's father (who had already left the parish by 1841), or his nephew, William, the son of James Sturdy.
James Sturdy and his family remained in Kelfield. His wife died aged 66, in 1850. The records for the Sturdys may be sparse as the Century wears on, because the Methodists had their own chapels and presumably records. By the 1850s, tiny Kelfield had two chapels - it seems to have been the more low church village of the parish.