WAPP - Waltham Abbey Personnel Project

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Biography:

1. James Ferguson was in the Artillery from the 7th August 1778 to the 30th June 1789, and started at the Mills as a Labourer in the Corning House on the 26th January 1790, earning 1/6d per day (Supply 5/214 dated the 27th March 1790). 2. He was still in the Corning House in August and September of 1790 (Supply 5/215) and from December 1790 to June 1791 (Supply 5/215). 3. James was promoted to being a Millman earning 2/-d per day by the 31st January 1792 (Supply 5/215) and remained a Millman from July 1792 to December 1794 (Various Returns, all referenced Supply 5/216). 4. Millmen were paid an extra 3d per night when on duty, according to Supply 5/217 dated the 3rd July 1795. 5. James was made a Corporal in the Volunteer Company by 1798 (Supply 5/219 dated September 1798). 6. A Petition on Pay (Supply 5/220 of the 2nd February 1800) recorded that he was literate and still working as a Millman. 7. Report dated the 8th May 1801 (Supply 5/221) confirmed that he was still working as a Millman and that he was a married man with 6 children. 8. On the the 31st December 1801, his wife Mary was paid 4d per pair for washing sheets - these would have been used in the Watch Houses (Winters, p.61). 9. A letter dated the 4th October, 1809 (Supply 5/228) from his wife, Mary, refers to the death of her husband James, a Millman, of a cold in the autumn of 1801, while employed in cleaning gravel from the river. In this letter, she requested financial help. 10 Supply 5/199 dated the 6th October 1809, recorded that Mary was awarded a pension of 7/- per week by the Board. 11 A document dated the 8th November 1818 (Supply 5/231) listed persons to whom pensions or charitable allowances were granted by the Honourable Board. Among the recipients was Mary, and it confirmed she received a pension of 7/-d per week, which had commenced on the 1st October 1809. 12 Mary was still in receipt of her pension in 1821 (Supply 5/232 dated 17th November 1821). 13 A document dated the 6th December 1821 (also Supply 5/232) gave the estimated pay of persons between the 1st January and 31st December 1822 along with their superannuated allowance, as well as "the allowance to widows and orphans of those who have lost their lives at this place", in which it was confirmed that Mary's superanuation should continue at £18.4.0d per annum. A similar document, Supply 5/232 dated the 28th December 1821, confirmsedthat the same pension would be paid in 1822. This was also the case in 1826 (Winters, op.cit. p.96).