Elizabeth was baptised on the 3rd March 1833 at North Nibley Congregational Tabernacle, though she was born just over two months earlier, on 31st December. Her five siblings were also baptised in non-conformist chapels, in Nibley, Wotton under Edge, or Dursley.
In the ’41 and ’51 Census, Elizabeth is recorded as living with her family on The Street, North Nibley, numbers 24 to 26 on the Tithe Map. In ’61 she is living in Great Coggleshall, Essex, as a teacher at the British School. These schools were set up over the country by the non-conformists, as an alternative to the National Schools, which were run in association with the Church of England.
The only record of Elizabeth returning to the South West is in her marriage to William Siggers (of Great Coggleshall) in 1869. But instead of being married in Nibley, the service took place at St Andrews church, in Clifton, Bristol. Elizabeth’s father had recently died, but was promoted to the profession of farm bailiff on the marriage certificate (he had actually been an agricultural labourer).
Instead of the customary single signature the witness, five signatures appear, four of whom are family members. The first witness, Rebecca, Elizabeth’s sister, was a servant in the household of the clergyman who officiated, Rev’d Nash and, later on, another sister appeared in his household as a servant.
Elizabeth spent the rest of her life in Great Coggleshall, dying in 1910. Although she married twice, the second time to William Martin, when she was 49, she had no children.
The only other record that I have of Elizabeth is from the Chelmsford Chronicle of 19th February 1897, where it is recorded that a brass kettle and stove was given to Elizabeth Martin for her services to the Mothers Meeting attached to the Congregational Lecture Hall.
North Nibley One-Place-Study 