Henrietta Wootten

The Life of Henrietta Wootten (1853 - 1914)

By her great-great-great-grandson, Oliver Moules

Henrietta's birthplace - now Komedia, in Bath.

Lydia Henrietta Vincent was born on the 10th of December 1853, at 23 Westgate Street in Bath. She was the seventh and youngest child of William Vincent, a brass finisher, and Lydia Reeves, a housewife. She was known by her middle name, "Henrietta", throughout her life to differentiate from her mother. Her older siblings were Mary Ann (1843 - 1847), Fanny Rebecca (1844 - 1890), Jeremiah (1846 - 1912), Mary Ann (1848 - 1878), Hester Louise (1850 - 1923) and William Alfred (1852 - 1852). Henrietta had a relatively comfortable childhood growing up in Bath, as her father's brass foundry business was successful. She attended school with her siblings from the ages of about 5 until 12. As a teenager, Henrietta met Henry Wootten. Henry was a year younger than Henrietta and from the village of Box, about 5 miles from Bath. He grew up in a poor, working-class family and had worked as a quarryman from the age of around 14. By the early 1870s, they became engaged. Henrietta's family were heavily against the match, possibly due to Henry's poorer background. According to family legend, Henrietta was disowned by her parents when she married Henry anyway.

Henrietta and Henry married at St Thomas a Becket Church, in Box, on Christmas Day 1873. The witnesses to the marriage were two of Henry's siblings, Thomas Wootten and Jane Wootten. After getting married, Henry and Henrietta moved to Box Hill. Unfortunately, in 1875, Henry was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He suffered with the disease for two years before dying on the 5th of April 1877, age 23. In the months following Henry's death, Henrietta started a relationship with his brother, Thomas Wootten. They quickly became engaged and married nine months later on Boxing Day 1877, at St Andrew's Church in Chippenham. Henrietta gave birth to her first child, Emmeline Wootten, some time in 1877. It is unknown whether Emmeline's father was Henry or Thomas. It is possible that Henrietta was widowed whilst pregnant, which may have been a reason she and Thomas decided to get married - to provide the baby with a father. Regardless of who Emmeline's biological father was, she was raised by Thomas as if she were his own.

After getting married, Henrietta and Thomas settled in the village of Colerne. During the years they lived on Tutton Hill, in Colerne, they had three children: Louisa Jane Wootten on 24 January 1879, William Thomas Isaac "Bill" Wootten on 30 August 1881 and Edward Thomas "Tommy" Wootten on 24 February 1882. After Tommy was born, the Woottens relocated to Blue Vein, in Box. At least one of their children is known to have been born there: Annie Lucy Wootten on 24 February 1884. At some point over the next few years the family moved again, to Henley. Henrietta and Henry had their final four children in Henley: Albert Henry Wootten in 1886, twins Ellen Elizabeth & Agnes Maud Wootten on 29 December 1888, and Arthur Henry Wootten on 7 January 1891. Albert and Agnes died young, at the ages of four and one.

On 28 December 1898, Henrietta's unmarried daughter, Emmeline Wootten, gave birth to an illegitimate son - Ernest Frank George Wootten, known as George, who was Henrietta's first grandchild. Due to the stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births in that time, George was raised as Henrietta and Thomas' son rather than their grandson. He is listed as "son" in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Henrietta had 23 grandchildren in total, 14 of which were born in her lifetime. In the 1910s, Henrietta and Thomas lived next-door to their daughter, Annie, and her husband John Greenman. In later life, Henrietta suffered from heart problems. At age 58 she was diagnosed with mitral regurgitation - where the blood in the heart flows the wrong way. This would have caused her frequent chest pains, fatigue and breathlessness.

On News Years Eve 1914, Henrietta suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at her home, and died shortly after. She died exactly three weeks after her 60th birthday. Her funeral was held on the 2nd of January 1915, and she was buried at Box Parish Cemetery, in plot 51. Thomas was buried beside her when he died in 1925.

Henrietta's death certificate