This is a study of the parish of Aldington in Kent. Its purpose is to discover as much as possible about the people who lived there before the First World War.

Geography

The parish of Aldington is situated between the town of Ashford and the region known as Romney Marsh. In addition to the village of Aldington, it includes a number of small hamlets and several outlying farms.

The geography of the parish was described in some detail by Edward Hasted in his History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent:

The parish of Aldington is exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The great ridge of quarry or sand hills cross it in length about two miles and an half, and it extends northward into the vale beyond them as far as the Old Stour, and on the other side southward into Romney Marsh, in all about two miles. On the ridge of quarry-hills is the village of Aldington, through which the road leads from Limne to Smeeth and Ashford, having the church on the north-east side of it, and the court-lodge and parsonage-house on the opposite sides of the church-yard, from whence there is an extensive prospect over Romney Marsh and the sea on one side, and the inland country on the other.

There are several hamlets in it, as at Aldington-corner, Stone-street-green, which lies in the vale near the river, and at Claphill, where the quarry-hills end, and you descend from it into the clays towards Mersham. Still further westward is Aldington-Fright, corruptly so called for the Frith, which was once a chase, for deer and wild beasts, belonging to the archbishop's manor of Aldington, where they ranged at large as in a forest. This is now a large heath, of a very uneven surface, about two miles in length, and near as wide, but it is separated into two parts by some cottages and lands inclosed round them, which have been purloined from it. Round the whole of the Fright, there are numbers of houses and cottages, at different distances from each other. At the entrance of it, at the southeast corner, is a large old timbered mansion, being the court-lodge of the manor of Poulton Stansted, belonging to the archbishop, and leased out for many years past to the family of Gilbert, now held by Donald Macdonald, esq.

The corn-land in this parish is very fertile. There is some hop-ground, and but little wood, most of which lies to the southward of the village, on a height called Aldington-knoll; and at no great distance from thence an estate called Merwood, or Merrud, which formerly belonged to the Hugessens, of Provender, and now to Sir Joseph Banks, and Sir Edward Knatchbull.(1)

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We get an evocative description of Aldington Frith from the Morning Post of 1826:

Aldington Frith, commonly pronounced by the inhabitants of that part of Kent , “Allington Fright”, is a rude, uncultivated tract of broken and unequal ground, difficult for strangers to pass, in consequence of the bogs which fill the hollows, and skirted by thick woods. … From the nature of the Frith, over which a few cottages only are scantily scattered, and its vicinity to the Marsh, a better situation for smugglers could scarcely be found; and it has long been notorious as their haunt.(2)

 

Demography

Population

Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901
Population	504	543	735	732	733	741	658	649	675	658	540
Males	257	267	372	383	375	402
Females	247	276	356	349	358	339
Houses	68	83	87	89	139	142	144
Families	90	91	129	132
Household Size	7.4	6.5	8.4	8.2	5.3	5.2	4.6

There was severe overcrowding at the start of the century, with many families having to share a house. Some new houses were built between 1801 and 1811 and must have eased the overcrowding, but between 1811 and 1821 there appears to have been a mass influx of migrants (largely families, rather than single men) and the situation became worse than ever. Drastic action was needed and it was taken - around fifty new cottages were built in the 1830s.

If we look at the number of baptisms that took place we can get a very rough idea of the population in earlier times. Around 1800, there were around twenty baptisms per year. Around 1700, there were only around ten. This suggests that the population was significantly lower in 1700.

Literacy

The established method for assessing literacy in a population is to look at who signed their names in the marriage register and who just made a mark. Obviously this only gives us information on a small sector of the population, but if we repeat the process over a significant period of time we can see how the level of literacy changed. At the moment we just have data for the period 1813-52 (figures in brackets are for England as a whole):

		1813-22	1823-32	1833-42	1843-52
Aldington	Males	54 (62)	49	56 (65)	61
Aldington	Females	34 (45)	29	42 (50)	49

Father’s occupation was very significant. For the decade 1837-46, grooms who were the sons of labourers had a literacy of just 33%. For those whose fathers were not labourers, it was 87%.

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The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure has compiled statistics for the Aldington registration sub-district (Aldington, Bilsington, Ruckinge, Warehorne and Orlestone). Here are some of their findings:

Sex ratio

The number of males in the registration sub-district (RSD) was 10-20% higher than the number of females.

Marital Fertility Rate

In the Aldington RSD, married women gave birth to at least seven children for most of the 19th century. The number had begun falling in the last decade of the century and by 1911 had reached 5.4. Most of England followed a similar pattern.

Age at Marriage

In the Aldington RSD, the average age at marriage remained relatively constant through the 19th century at around 24 for women and around 27 for men. Nationally, the average for men was slightly lower and for women slightly higher:

Illegitimacy Ratio

The level of illegitimacy in the Aldington RSD in 1851 was quite high at 9.77%. It had fallen to 5.28% ten years later, but then rose again to a level of 8.17% in 1871. Thereafter it fell dramatically. This is how it changed nationally:

Mortality

Nationally, the level of infant mortality remained at a constant level of around 15% for the whole of the 19th century. In the Aldington RSD, it rose from 8.5% in 1851 to 11.1% in 1881. For comparison, the levels in two nearby towns were: 12.6% falling to 11% (Ashford), 14.2% falling to 13.8% (Folkstone). This at odds with the suggestion put forward by Woods that rates declined earlier in rural areas than in urban areas.(3) Reay, in his study of three parishes in the Blean area of Kent, also found that infant mortality moved in the opposite direction to Woods' national rural trend, increasing by 60% from the birth cohort of 1800-34 to that of 1865-80.(4)

Medical experts at the time were convinced of a connection between infant deaths and feeding practices, but the level of early childhood mortality also rose, from 4.8% in 1851 to 6.8% in 1881, suggesting some other cause. Polluted water seems the most likely candidate.

If we examine what was happening at the parish level, we find that Aldington experienced a series of mortality crises in the first half of the 19th century.

In 1819, Charles and Susanna Butcher lost three children aged 5, 12 and 13. His brother John lost two children aged 13 and 17.

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The causes are unknown at the moment, but the neighbouring parish of Mersham was similarly affected:

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In Aldington, the worst periods were October to November of 1826 and September to October of 1827. Those who died were nearly all adults, with ages ranging from 20 to 83.

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Households with boarders

In the Aldington RSD, the number of households with boarders remained constant at 12% from 1851 to 1881. Nationally, the situation was very similar.

Households with servants

The number of households with servants dropped from 19% in 1851 to 14% in 1881. This is significantly higher than the national average:

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History

A band of smugglers known as the Aldington Gang plied their trade in this area between about 1817 and 1827. The gang's most famous leader lived in Bilsington, so we have opted to cover the history of the Aldington Gang in that study.

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Economy

Unemployment in the country as a whole was very high in the early 19th century. Mechanisation on farms affected jobs in most counties, but Kent was particularly badly affected because of the lack of alternative jobs in industry. In 1816, the situation was aggravated by the return of soldiers and sailors from the Napoleonic Wars. The parish poor law system was under great strain - in many parishes, a third of the parishioners were reliant on the poor rate.

There was a twenty-year depression in agriculture from 1815 to 1836. It was so severe that landlords as well as tenants suffered financial ruin, and large areas of farmland were entirely abandoned. This led the government to introduce the Corn Laws to block the import of cheap grain. This had the effect of
raising food prices and the cost of living for the British public, and hampered the growth of other British economic sectors, such as manufacturing, by reducing the disposable income of the British public.

Many will have chosen to abandon farming and adopt other occupations and by 1841 twenty-three different occupations are represented in Aldington: ag lab, beer seller, blacksmith, bricklayer, butcher, carpenter, carrier, farmer, gamekeeper, gardener, grazier, grocer, lime burner, miller, musician, publican, sawyer, schoolteacher, servant, shoemaker, surgeon, veterinary surgeon, wheelwright.

According to the Tithe Award Schedule, ownership of land in the parish was divided between around sixty people, with the major landowner being William Deedes esquire, a gentleman of independent means who lived at Sandling Park, near Hythe. He owned well over half the land in the parish, including most of the larger farms. Only eighteen of the property owners lived in the parish. All the major farms were occupied by tenant farmers.

Of the 3591 acres in the parish, around 1600 acres were pasture, 1200 acres were arable, 300 acres were woodland and 80 acres were growing hops. According to Kelly's Directory of 1882, The main arable crops were wheat, barley and beans.

The average farm size in Kent at this time was 143 acres.(4) Most of the farms in Aldington were of this sort of size with only Court Lodge (570a) and Lower Park (259a) exceeding 200 acres. Many of the craftsmen and tradesmen (and even a couple of ag. labs.) rented a few acres of pasture on which to keep a horse or cow. A couple of the grocers were more substantial farmers; Humphrey Philpott rented 80 acres of pasture and Robert Scott rented 35 acres of pasture and 51 acres of arable.

All the farmers with more than 30 acres employed labourers; Stephen Hart at Court Lodge employed fifteen. In addition to the outdoor labourers, many of the farmers employed indoor servants. Several of the craftsmen and tradesmen did too. 18.68% of households in the Aldington registration district contained at least one live-in servant in 1851.

 

The Church

The parish church, which is dedicated to St. Martin, is Early English with a Late Perpendicular tower.

 
 

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The Pub

The Walnut Tree Inn at Aldington Corner has sold beer and ale since 1704. In that year, the property was purchased by Jonas Quilter and he was granted a licence to sell ales and ciders. In 1749, the property was purchased by Thomas Gadhew who registered the alehouse under the name The Walnut Tree.(6)

It was the headquarters of the Aldington Gang in the later years of its existence, when their leader was George Ransley. It was owned and run by John Firman from 1841 and, after his death in 1849, by his widow Mary.

Aldington Frith had its own inn, The Good Intent, run in 1861 by William Earl, in 1871 by Daniel Rolfe and in 1881 by Frank Barling.

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Community Life

Horse racing has been a feature of life in Aldington since at least 1809.(7)

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A cricket match was played on Aldington Frith between the gentlemen of Aldington and the gentlemen of Biddenden in 1812.(8)

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Cockfighting contests were held at the Walnut Tree Inn as late as 1904.(6)

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Schools

In 1790 a Mr W. Holmes took a class of ten pupils at the Lady Chapel in St. Martin's Church. By 1815 the class had been enlarged to include twenty of Aldington's poor children and by 1818 a further twenty-one girls had been recruited. The class quickly became too large to be held in the Church and William Deedes paid for a school to be built at Aldington Corner. Kelly's Directory of 1882 records that the school was built in 1835 and was big enough to house 150 children, but the average attendance was 84. Miss Mary Paisley was the headmistress at that time. The Ordnance Survey map describes it as a National School. These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.

On 15 October 1851, Mary Ann Cummins, daughter of a prominent educationalist, married Henry Sutton, a local farmer. At some point in the next ten years, they set up home at Upper Park Farm in Aldington, where Mary Ann attempted to set up her own school with the help of a governess. A high percentage of the pupils were from London.

The educational census conducted by Horace Mann in 1851 revealed that, out of 1930 schools in Kent, 1430 were private establishments.(9) Many were day schools (usually called academies) but there were also many boarding schools.

The lower strata of the middle class sent their children either to lesser boarding schools established near the larger towns, or to one of the many day schools in the town itself. The provincial newspapers of the period are full of advertisements for such local schools.(10)

The private school was, of necessity, an ephemeral institution, depending for its very existence on individual initiative: for its owner-schoolmaster it was essentially a means of livelihood and not all schoolmasters were scrupulous as to the means employed in securing a profit. Further, lack of capital meant that schools were often small and ill-equipped.(11)

The Quarterly Journal criticised the quality of assistant teachers in private boarding schools,(12, 13) leading some parents to band together “to found a school, and make it good, than run the doubtful chance of placing their sons where they may learn nothing to any purpose”.(14)

The school was apparently not a success and by 1871 Henry and Mary Ann were living in Folkestone and Henry was working as a police constable.

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Major farms/estates – owners and tenants

SIMNELLS (Simnolds) takes its name from a family that owned it in the 15th century. It was owned and occupied by the Blechenden family between 1663 and 1715. William Deedes, of Sandling Park in the parish of Saltwood, was the owner in 1842. Simnells (Simnolds) was occupied in 1841 and 1851 by John Matson.

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RUFFIN'S HILL was also owned by the Blechenden family, but was sold to Julius Deedes in 1677. It was occupied for several decades by the Goldup family. John Edward Goldup farmed 170 acres in 1861, employing five labourers and a boy. The tenants in 1881 were the Fuller family. John Fuller had died in 1877 at the age of 39, but his widow continued to farm the 136 acres with the help of her father-in-law James until 1886.

Ruffin's Hill

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GOLDWELL takes its name from the family of the same name who lived there in the 16th century. The Cobb family also lived there in the 15th and 16th centuries. The estate was later broken up, but there is still a farm of the same name. William Deedes was the owner in 1842. Goldwell was occupied for most of the 19th century by the Fuller family. John Fuller (53) farmed 178 acres in 1861, employing four labourers and two boys.

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COBB'S HALL (Copthall/Cophall) was an estate in this parish, situated in the valley, at no great distance westward from Ruffin's Hill. It was formerly the property of the family of Knight, who had resided here from the reign of Henry VIII and in whom it continued down to Henry Knight, gent, who died possessed of it in 1687. It eventually passed into the hands of the Deedes family. Cobb's Hall was occupied by the Marshall family for several decades: William in 1841, his widow Ann in 1851 and their unmarried daughter, Sarah, in 1861. They were all described as graziers rather than farmers.

Cobb's Hall

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COPPERHURST (Cophurst) was an estate in the southern part of the parish and was anciently the property of the family of Godfrey in which it continued down to Thomas Godfrey who died possessed of it in the 6th year of Henry VII. Later owners were the Clerke and Honywood families. It was owned by William Deedes in 1842. Copperhurst was occupied by William Chambers (born Newchurch) in 1861. He was farming 78 acres.

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GOLDENHURST was an estate in the southern part of the parish. The present building dates back to the 17th century and was owned by William Deedes in the 1790s and by Noel Coward from 1929 to 1956.

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HANDEN was a farm in the north of the parish. It was available to rent at £50 a year in 1749:

To be let and entered upon immediately (the rent £50 a year), a farm called Handen Farm, and 77 acres of arable and pasture land thereto belonging in the parish of Aldington near Romney Marsh; of which 12 acres are fine meadow land and there are [an]other 15 acres lying in Romney Marsh: all the land is well-watered even in the driest season. And to be sold at the said farm house, a parcel of household goods, all sorta of utensils in husbandry, some stock of cattle, hay and clover.(15)

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The O.S. map of 1871 shows three farms to the east of the church: Upper Park, Middle Park and Lower Park; an advertisement of 1750 suggests that they may once have been a single farm:

To be let: a large barn and several pieces of land, arable, meadow and pasture, containing 300 acres and upwards, (being part of certain lands called ALDINGTON PARK) in the occupation of Thomas Tilby.(16)

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Travel

Aldington sits on the old Roman road that runs from Ashford to Hythe. The Tenterden to Hythe road (B2067) bypasses Aldington to the south.

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Migration

There were 139 separate households listed in 1841, 41% of the householders were born in the parish. By 1851 this figure had risen to 47%.

Several householders in 1851 were born outside Kent. They included Robert Scott, a farmer from Surrey; George Lewis Clark, a farmer from Essex; Abraham Pain, a gamekeeper from Suffolk and David Easton, a vet from Sussex. The other non-natives included William Hadley, a schoolmaster from Canterbury.

The map below clearly shows that people travelled to Aldington from all parts.

Parishes coloured red are the birthplaces of just some of the householders listed in the 1851 Census for Aldington.

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Notable People and Families

Aldington Frith was the home of Cephas Quested (1788-1821), thought by some to have been the first leader of the band of smugglers known as the Aldington Gang. He was arrested at the Battle of Brookland (1821) for attempting to shoot at Revenue officers and although none of the officers died, he was sentenced to death and hung at Newgate before being interred at St Martin’s church in Aldington. Due to the nature of his crimes no grave marker was allowed by the church authorities.

In more recent times Aldington has been home to Sir Noel Coward, the novelists Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Brown, the musician Noel Redding and the comedians Vic Reeves, Julian Clary and Paul O’Grady.

In the south chancel of the parish church are memorials for William Deedes, M. D., who died in 1738; Mary, daughter of Edward Metcalf, widow of Henry Gregory, who died in 1707; Humphry Blechinden, esq. of Ruffin's Hill, who died in 1639 and John Blechynden, esq. of Simnells, who died in 1607. In the north chancel is a monument to John Weddel and Maud his wife, who died in 1475. In the south isle was a tomb for James Godfrey and Katherine his wife.

A Poll Book of 1790 lists 15 freeholders in Aldington:
Ralph Banks, William Borton, Thomas Crittenden, Charles Crothall, William Foord, William Hayter, William Hobbs, William Hobbs, John Hooker, Stephen Hooker, Thomas Hooker, William Hooker, John Saunders, Edward Steed and William Tilbee.

John Fuller, John Tickner and Edward Marshall are the only fathers described as yeomen in the baptismal registers between 1813 and 1840.

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Many families have come and gone over the centuries; Some of the most enduring were Blechenden, Foord, Hogben, Pantry, Stoakes and Stone. The period between 1760 and 1840 saw the highest diversity.

Page and Knight were the commonest names in the 16th century, but they had virtually disappeared from the parish by 1700. Butcher, Carpenter, Marshall, Quested and Seeley made their first appearance in the 18th century. Butcher and Hooker were the dominant names in the 19th century.
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Most men spent their whole lives as agricultural labourers, either in the parish of their birth or in one of the neighbouring parishes, but occasionally we encounter someone who wanted something more from life. Here are a few of those individuals.

The Steed family were a class above most of their neighbours in Aldington and naturally enough their sons found more interesting careers. Robert Charles Steed (1779-1809) was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. He was stationed at Colchester Barracks when he died (possibly from wounds sustained fighting in the Peninsular War). The Colchester Barracks could accommodate 7,000 officers and men and formed the largest garrison in the country.

Edward Henry Steed (1773-1865) was an army surgeon. His first posting was to Shropshire, where he married his first wife, Mary. Their first child was born in Norfolk and they eventually settled in Maidstone. Robert spent his last years in Boxgrove, Sussex, having married for a second time in 1835.

Parker Butcher (1817-76) was living in Dover and working as a police constable at the time of his marriage. The family later moved to Rye (Sussex). By 1861 Parker had become the governor of the borough jail. In 1871, he was recorded as 'head constable'. Each borough had its head constable, so this was not the same as the modern Chief Constable.

George Butcher (1822- ) moved to Dover and worked as a baker's assistant before setting up his own business in Tenterden. He is listed in Kelly's 1882 Directory of Kent.

William Stoakes married at High Halden, north of Tenterden, but started his married life in Aldington. After the death of his first child in 1788, he seems to have decided that married life didn't suit him and he 'enlisted for the East Indies' and was never heard of again.

Formed in 1600, the East India Company traded in Asian textiles, spices, porcelain and tea. As it grew it needed to secure its Indian settlements from European rivals and hostile locals. At first this involved no more than a handful of factory guards, but from the 1740s onwards each of the Company's commercial centres - Bengal, Bombay and Madras - developed its own army. By the early 19th century, the Company's army was 250,000 strong. The officers were British and there were several regiments composed only of Europeans, but the vast majority of the soldiers were Indian.

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BLECHENDEN/BLECHYNDEN

The first record of this family in the baptismal registers is the baptism of Katherine, daughter of Thomas Blechenden (gent), in 1562. The last record is the baptism of Emily Grace, daughter of John and Sarah, in November 1806.

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BUTCHER
James Butcher (Baptised 1712, Mersham) married Elizabeth Law at Mersham in 1737 and set up home in Aldington. Their son, also James, married Anne Crothall in 1764. Their son, Thomas, married Mary Sharwood in 1795, and another son, John, married Mary Chapman in 1794.

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FOORD

The first record of this family in the baptismal registers is the baptism of Richard, son of Richard and Alice, in 1609. The last record is the baptism of Albert Henshaw, son of Richard and Catharine, in 1862.
George Foord was one of several Aldington men who chose to get married in Canterbury. This would have involved a six mile trip to Ashford followed by a thirteen mile trip to Canterbury. (Click on the heading for more information)

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FULLER
John Fuller and Mary Epps (widow) married at Sellinge in 1807, then set up home in Aldington. In 1813, John is described as a yeoman. In 1851, his son John is a farmer of 138 acres, employing four labourers.

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HOOKER

Daniel Hooker and Elisabeth Johnson, both of Aldington, were married at Aldington in 1778.

Stephen Hooker of Aldington and Elisabeth Cavell of Ashford had the banns read in 1778, but there is no record of their marriage.

Joseph Hooker of Aldington and Hannah Watts of Biddenden married at Biddenden in 1779 and set up home there.

The family don't really establish a significant presence in Aldington until the beginning of the 19th century. Then suddenly there are lots of them!

Stephen Hooker (Baptised 1779, Folkestone) of Aldington and Susannah Spearpoint of Wye married at Wye in 1804 and set up home in Aldington with their son Thomas (born 1814). In 1841 they were living on the Cobb’s Hall estate and Stephen was earning a living as a gamekeeper.

Thomas Hooker of Aldington married Sarah Elgar at Hinxhill in 1797. They were nonconformists, so their four children were not baptised, but their births were recorded at Brabourne.

Daniel Hooker (Born c.1780, Mersham) of Aldington and Mary Weston of Westwell married at Westwell in 1806 and set up home in Aldington. Daniel was a nonconformist like his brothers, so his five children were not baptised, but their births were recorded at Brabourne. In 1851 Daniel & Mary were living on Aldington Common and Daniel was earning a living as a carrier.

John Hooker (Born c.1782, Aldington) of Aldington and Damaris Jarvis of Bethersden married at Bethersden in 1813 and set up home in Aldington and had seven children. They were nonconformists, so their children were not baptised, but the births were recorded at Brabourne. In 1851 they were living on Aldington Common (next door to Daniel) and John was employed as an ag lab.

William Hooker (Born c.1785) of Aldington and Elizabeth Goldsmith of Harrietsham married at Harrietsham in 1811 and set up home in Aldington. They had a child, Eliza, born in 1813, but Elizabeth died the same year (the first Hooker burial in Aldington) and two years later William married again. His new bride was Sarah Hooker (a cousin?) of Aldington.

It seems likely that Thomas, Daniel, William and John were the sons of Daniel and Elizabeth, but at the moment we have no record of their births or baptisms.

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MARSHALL
William Marshall and Anne Steed, both of Aldington, married at Aldington in 1789.

Edward Marshall (son of William & Anne) and Elizabeth Mount, both of Aldington, married at Aldington in 1814. In 1820, Edward was described in the baptismal register as a yeoman. By 1841, they had retired to North Cray, near Bromley.

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MILLS
Samuel John Mills and Susanna Silke, both of Aldington, married at Aldington in 1804 and had four daughters and five sons. Two of the sons stayed in Aldington and two moved away. The 1851 Census records John as a farmer of 130 acres, employing nine labourers; whilst his younger brother, Henry, is a farmer of 79 acres, employing two labourers. Robert became a grocer in Wye. James moved to Faversham to become a draper's assistant.

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SCOTT
Robert Scott married Charlotte Simmonds at Rochester in 1803 and set up home in Aldington. In 1851 he is farming 130 acres at Aldington Corner and employing five labourers. His son, also Robert, is recorded as a grocer and draper.

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STEED

Robert Steed married Ann Morris at Aldington in 1711 and was buried there in 1772.
Edward Steed, son of Roberty & Ann, married Susannah Down at Willesborough in 1739. He was buried at Aldington in 1766.
Robert Steed, son of Edward & Susannah, married Ann Goddard at Aldington in 1762 and was buried there in 1790.
Edward Henry Steed. son of Robert & Ann, became an army surgeon and died at Boxgrove, Sussex in 1865.
(Click on the heading for more information)
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STOAKES
The first record of this family in the baptismal registers is the baptism of Richard, son of John (a bricklayer) and Elizabeth, in 1690. The last record is the baptism of Marianne, daughter of Joseph and Mary, in 1864. (Click on the heading for more information)

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TICKNER
John Tickner married Sarah Green at Saltwood in 1807 and set up home in Aldington a few years later. The parish register describes him as a yeoman. Neither of their two sons stayed in the parish and John ended his days as the 'parish street driver'.

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TUTT
Stephen Tutt and Ann Ward of Aldington were married at Smeeth in 1750. They had nine children, all baptised at Aldington: Edward (1750), Mary (1752), Stephen (1754), Ann (1756), Elizabeth (1759), Sarah (1761), Martha (1764), William (1766) and James (1770).

The burial register records the deaths of James Tutt (1785), William Tutt (1790) and Stephen Tutt (1791).

Stephen Tutt of Aldington married Catharine Law of Lydd at Lydd in 1802. Their first child, Edward was baptised at Aldington in 1803.

Benjamin Tutt, son of William & Anne, was baptised at Aldington in 1803.
Jonathan Tutt, son of William & Anne, was baptised at Aldington in 1806.
Henry Tutt, son of William & Catharine, was baptised at Aldington in 1815. In the 1851 Census, he is recorded as a farmer of 8 acres.

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Notes

1. Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 8 (Canterbury, 1799), pp. 314-327.
2. Morning Post, London, 17 November 1826
3. R. Woods, A paper prepared for the Workshop on the Decline of Infant Mortal;ity in Europe, 1850-1950, Florence, April 1992
4. Barry Reay, Microhistories: Demography, society and culture in rural England, 1800-1930, Cambridge University Press, 1996
5. L. Shaw-Taylor, Family farms and capitalist farms in mid-nineteenth century England. The Agricultural History Review, 2005, Vol. 53/2
6. https://walnuttreealdington.co.uk
7. Kentish Weekly Post, 9 May 1809
8. Kentish Gazette, 28 August 1812
9. Mann, H. Census of Great Britain, 1851. Routledge & Co., 1854, p. 103
10. Simon, B. The Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780-1870. Lawrence & Wishart, 1974, p. 112
11. Simon, in Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780-1870, p. 114
12. Quarterly Journal of Education, 1834, Vol. VII, No. 13
13. Quarterly Journal of Education, 1835, Vol. X, No. 19
14. Quarterly Journal of Education, 1831, Vol. 1, No. 2
15. Kentish Weekly Post, 30 September 1749
16. Kentish Weekly Post, 22 September 1750

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Other sources consulted

O.S. maps
Census returns
Parish registers
Tithe Award Schedule
1790 Poll Book

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp314-327
https://www.populationspast.org
https://www.aldington.kent.sch.uk