Biography:
1. John Colverd, according to Pay List dated the 21st July 1809 (Supply 5/228) was a Carpenter (1st class), and was paid £1.9.9d for work carried out by the Engineers' Department in the Manufactory between the 15th and 21st July 1809.
2. WO54/550 dated the 1st April 1825 (Personnel Employed in the Engineers' Department) recorded that John was paid 4/1d per day for 313 days as a Carpenter. This gave him an annual income of £63.18.1d. His service at that date was nearly 15 years, and he was then 38 years' old. He was married and had 10 children, and this document also recorded that he was appointed to the Establishment in 1810.
3. WO54/550 dated the 13th October 1825, was a repeat of the record dated the 1st April 1825. A note against 'Former Appointments' recorded that he was in the employment of a contractor on the 6th September 1804, who, it is assumed, worked for the Ordnance.
4. WO54/554 dated the 1st April 1826, gives identical information as that in Notes 3 and 4, with the exception that he was then nearly 40 years' old, with service of nearly 16 years.
5. WO54/554 dated the 1st October 1826, gave the same information as on the previous Return.
6. WO54/558 dated the 1st April 1827 recorded the same information as in the notes above, but at that date, Mr. Colverd had nearly 17 years' service.
7. WO54/558 dated the 1st October 1827, showed no basic alteration from the previous Return.
8. Return dated the 1st April 1828 (WO54/562) updated the information given in the notes above.
9. Return dated the1st October 1828 (WO54/562) updated his age and length of service, with family details and pay remaining unchanged. This Return confirmed he had trained as a Carpenter.
10 WO54/566 dated the 1st April 1829, confirmed that John at that date still earned the same as in Note 2. His length of service was given as nearly 17 years, and he was 42 years' old.
11 Return dated the 1st October 1829 (WO54/566) updated his age and length of service, with family and pay details remaining unchanged.
12 According to Return WO54/570 dated the 1st April 1830, all details remained the same for John Colverd as in Note 2, except that his service was now nearly 20 years, and his age was 43.
13 Return WO54/570 dated the 1st October 1830, confirmed that John was still a Carpenter, with family details and pay remaining unaltered, but length of service and age updated.
14 A Return of Persons Belonging to the Civil Establishment of the Ordnance at the Gunpowder and Small Arms Manufactories at Waltham Abbey, Faversham and Enfield, showing in detail the several points of information called for by the Master General and Board's Order dated the 31st January, 1831, recorded that John Colverd was one of the 7 Carpenters to be employed at Waltham Abbey Powder Mills and the Enfield Small Arms Factory. He was to be paid 4/1d per day, and was required to undertake general services as a Carpenter in the Manufactory which required, " great care, attention and sobriety, etc."(WO54/575).
15 WO54/575 dated the 1st April 1831 updated his age and period of service in the October 1830 Return, with all other details remaining unchanged.
16 WO54/575 dated October 1831, confirmed that John still earned 4/1d per day as in Note 14, giving him a total of £63.18.1d per annum. At that date he had served just over 21 years, and was aged 45.
17 WO54/581 dated the 1st April 1832 updated his age and period of service in the October 1831 Return, with all other details remaining the same. WO54/581 dated the 1st October 1832 confirmed that he still earned £63.18.1d per annum and had, by then, served just over 22 years. He was then 46 years of age. This Return stated that the "Date of Present Appointment" was 23rd June 1823.
18 WO54/587 dated the 1st April 1833, confirmed the information given in Note 17.
19 WO54/587 dated the 1st October 1833, recorded that he was in "Contractors' employ" at the Mills on the 6th September 1804 as a Carpenter, and that he had held his "present employ since the 23rd June 1823". His length of service was given as just over 23 years, which indicates that he first worked at the Mills in 1810. This is at variance with later entries. His pay remained at £63.18.1d, and this Return confirmed he had 10 children.
20 WO54/593 dated the 1st April 1834 stated that John still earned a total of £63.18.1d per annum, that he was 47 years of age, and that his service was nearly 24 years.
21 In 1839 he was still paid 4/1d per day, with an estimated annual remuneration of £63.18.1d. He was a 53-year-old married man with 10 children, living in Waltham Abbey. (WO54/623 dated the 1st October 1839).
22 In the 1841 Census it was recorded that John, a Carpenter, and his wife Mary, lived in Romeland, together with their children Charles, aged 20, (also a Carpenter), James, aged 15 (a Shoemaker), and daughters Ann, aged 15, (who worked in the S.A.F. as a Percussion Cap Maker), Elizabeth, aged 13 and Rebecca, aged 7, who were both Pin Makers. John was not born in Essex, but the rest of his family were.
