Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry
The Rock Family of Herefordshire
Harriet Rock (nee Corbett) was the sister of my great great grandfather James Corbett. In 1877 she married George Rock in Westhide, Herefordshire - their home parish. The photograph below shows Westhide church.
By 1881 George & Harriet had moved to nearby Withington, where as far as I know they remained for the rest of their lives. The table below gives a transcription of the 1881 census entry for George & Harriet (RG11/2590 Page 16 schedule 72):
| Page 16] | The undermentioned Houses are situated within the Boundaries of the | ||||||
| Civil Parish [or Township] of | City or Municipal Borough of | Municipal Ward of | Parliamentary Borough of | Town or Village of | Rural Sanitary District of | Ecclesiastical District of | |
| Withington | Hereford Union | Withington | |||||
| No. of Schedule | Road, Street and Name of House | Name and Surname of each person | Relation to Head of Family | Condition | Age | Rank, Profession or Occupation | Where Born |
| 72 | Lock Cottage | George Rock | Head | Married | 34 | General Labourer | H'fdshire, Westhide |
| Harriet Rock | Wife | Married | 27 | Labourer's wife | Westhide | ||
| Henry J Rock | Son | 3 | infant | Westhide | |||
| William Rock | Son | 6 months | infant | Withington | |||
By 1901 the family had moved to Upper Marsh in Withington and George was now described as a General Labourer and gardener - working on his own account - which I think means he was self employed. The table below shows a transcript from the 1901 census for Withington (RG13/2478 page 19 schedule 130) showing George & Harriet & their five youngest children:
| Administrative County - Hereford | The undermentioned Houses are situated within the Boundaries of the | Page 19 | |||||
| Civil Parish | Ecclesiastical Parish | County Borough etc. | Ward of Municipal Borough | Rural District | Parliamentary Borough or Division | Town or Village or Hamlet | |
| Withington Entire | Withington St Peter | Nil | Nil | Hereford (Part of) | Southern | Withington | |
| No. of Schedule | Road, Street and Name of House | Name and Surname of each person | Relation to Head of Family | Condition | Age | Profession or Occupation | Where Born |
| 130 | Upper Marsh | George Rock | Head | Married | 54 | General Labourer & Gardener on own account | Westhide |
| Harriet Rock | Wife | Married | 47 | Westhide | |||
| George Rock | Son | Single | 12 | School | Withington | ||
| Elsie May Rock | Dau | Single | 9 | School | Withington | ||
| Frank James Rock | Son | Single | 7 | School | Withington | ||
| Annie Rock | Dau | Single | 5 | School | Withington | ||
| Albert F Rock | Son | Single | 2 | Withington | |||
So far the only photograph I have of any George & Harriet's children, is this handsome one of George Rock (born 1889).
George (senior) and Harriet continued to live in Withington until their deaths. They are buried in Withington churchyard
George Rock senior was the youngest son of Henry Rock & Emma Dorney, who had married in 1837 in Westhide.
Henry and Emma Rock had 5 children. I haven't tracked down a photo of their son George yet, but I was given this lovely photo of his brother Philip Rock and his wife Mary Ann by one of their descendants - Rose.
Philip & Mary Ann had 6 children, moving round Herefordshire presumably for Philip to find work as a labourer, before settling in Marden. Their great-granddaughter Rose also gave me this lovely photo of the wedding of Philip & Mary Ann's daughter Alice Rose Rock to Arthur Powell in 1912. If you hover the cursor over the faces, it should display their names.
Philip and Mary Ann's first child was George Albert Rock, born 1870 in Westhide. George Albert moved to Wales where he met and married Jane Ford and they had 7 children. Thanks to George's great granddaughter Jan for this photo of him.
George enlisted at the start of WW1 but was sadly invalided out and died in hospital back home in Wales. As with all the Peasants to Puddles men who lost their lives in WW1, I've tried to find out a bit more about him, so you can read his commemorative page here
One final photo, also kindly supplied by Jan, is this lovely one of George Albert's son William Henry Rock.
I would love to hear from anyone who has photos of other members of the Rock family - perhaps even ones of George & Harriet themselves.
The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of the Rock family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me
Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.
If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com
© Nicky Rowberry 2023
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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry
