William and Hannah Worrall nee Wells
When
William Worrall was born in 1825 he was already from the third generation of his family to live in Stoneleigh. Worralls continued to live in the village for several generations thereafter.
William was baptised at Stoneleigh on 8 January 1826, the fifth child of nine of William and Elizabeth Worrall nee Jarvis. He married
Hannah Wells at Barford on 4 December 1848 and initially they lived in Whitnash, where their first son was born. They soon moved to Stoneleigh and went on to have nine children in total, and they and their descendants played a large part in Stoneleigh life, perhaps particularly their son
George who is buried at
B 5. 5.
By 1861 the family lived at Crackley Cottages and their eldest boy was already working as a ploughboy at the age of ten. This typifies the family, who worked hard as agricultural labourers on the estate. They even acted as foster parents to at least one child. Even at the age of 75 in 1901 William is described as a labourer on a farm; he and Hannah then lived at 1, Coventry Road. His life was a hard one, then, and he died on 16 November 1905 at the age of 80; he was buried on 20 November.
Hannah Wells was, like her husband, born in 1825. Her parents were William and Hannah Wells nee Harwood; she was born in Barford, the middle child of three. Her baptism took place there on 4 December 1825. Like her husband, she lived a long life: in the 1911 census she was 85, and was living with her daughter Mary and family in Park Road, Coventry. The family details give a strong indication of changing times, since her son-in-law Edward Harris was a builder and contractor, and her grand-daughters Edith and Nellie were working as, respectively, a school teacher and a shorthand typist. A far cry from Hannah's experiences. She died aged 91 on 18 December 1916, by which time two of her grandsons, Frederick and Dennis, were fighting in the Great War.