History of our Barlow Family
William Barlow
who was born in 1802 in Wigan, in the county of Lancashire in England, led a remarkably busy and diverse life.
He was a Schoolmaster Sergeant in the Royal Artillery, a workhouse master at Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire and at St Marylebone in London and at times a teacher, farmer and librarian in Tasmania.
After decades of research I finally produced a book to bring together and present all the information I had gathered on William and his family.
"A Man of Many Words: The Story of William Barlow" was self-published in 2024.
Copies are available to purchase, please email me for more details.
Life in Wigan, Lancashire
I have had the pleasure of visiting Wigan on two occasions. Both times I was warmly welcomed by long time Wigan residents the Hughes family, who gave me insight into the town as it was when the Barlow family were living and working there.
I visited the imposing All Saints Church
where William and his siblings were christened. At the time William Barlow was born, the population of Wigan was around 11,000 and growing rapidly. Coal mining and weaving were the major industries and it is recorded that William's father (also a William) was a weaver.
Life in the Royal Artillery
William joined the Royal Artillery (6th Battalion) as a Gunner on 1st April 1821 after attesting at Doncaster, York on 17th May. He was nineteen years old and had previously been employed as a weaver. I am fortunate to have a great deal of recorded material about William's military life.
First Marriage and Children
William married Eliza Sutor in Leith, Midlothian Scotland on 7th October 1825. Eliza gave birth to seven children but sadly she died just a week after the birth of her third daughter, named Elizabeth Sutor Barlow in Scilly Isles. This left William with 5 surviving children aged under 10 years. These are the children born to William and Eliza
The 1841 Census for England shows William and his family living in Scilly Isles just a few short months before the birth of the last child Elizabeth and the premature death of her mother, Eliza.
| Cornwall Online Census Project - 1841 Census return (6 June 1841) Transcript of Piece HO107/154 (Scilly Islands) COCP code 154303 Enumeration district 4 |
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| Page 1 Folio 0 Barracks (St.Mary's),1 William Barlow, age 40, Soldier, Not in county (this means born outside Cornwall) Thomas Barlow, age 8, Not in county William Barlow, age 6, Not in county Margaret Barlow, age 4, In county (this means born in Cornwall) Mary Howarth Barlow, age 1, In county Elizabeth Barlow, age 35, Not in county |
Second Marriage
William married Elizabeth "Hannah" Williams in Scilly Isles on 14th October 1842. Elizabeth was a spinster, her father James Williams' occupation was a mason. Williams father, who was also William, was listed as a manufacturer (previously he was a weaver).
Life in the Workhouse
Thanks to Paul for making an enquiry about William's diary that he kept while Master of the Bishops Stortford Union Workhouse in Hertfordshire. This has made me do something about uploading it to
my Workhouse page here.
1851 English Census
William was still in England in 1851 as he and his children appeared in the 1851 census which was taken on the evening of 31st March.
1851 Census return
Master and Mistress of Marylebone Workhouse, London
William Barlow, age 47, born Wigan, Lancashire,
Hannah Barlow, age 45, born Leicester, Leicestershire,
Monitor in the Model School for Boys of the Institution, Chelsea
William Barlow, age 15, Labourer,
25 Carlton Hill East, Parish of St Marylebone, St Marks
Margaret (14) Mary (11) and Eliza (9) Barlow - all pupils, all born in Scilly Isles
En route to Tasmania
The Barlow family arrived in to Hobart Town in July of 1852 and so the final chapter of William's life was played out in Tasmania. It was here that his second wife Hannah died and then he re-married, this time to Mary Ann Hall. 
William died in Swansea in 1883 on the East Coast of Tasmania and is buried there beside the beautiful and windswept Great Oyster Bay.
His wife Mary Ann lived to a grand age of 90 years.
Death notice report in the Examiner Newspaper 5th June 1897:
BARLOW on June 4th at the residence of her daughter Mrs Dent 22 Cimitere St Launceston, Mary Ann, relict of the late William Barlow of Swansea, aged 90 years. Funeral this day at 4.00 pm.