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Children of William Foden

Caleb Foden was born in Erdington in 1805, the year of the battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic wars. He was the son of John, a hay trusser.

In 1841, Caleb describes himself as a publican and in 1851, as a market gardener and retail brewer. The readily available farm products, such as barley and hops, made beer making an easy and profitable business. It was, in fact, healthier to drink alcohol as at that time water could be quite unclean to drink. In some places in Britain, one in every three houses was licensed to manufacture and sell alcohol. A license was purchased from the Crown. You could then legally make and sell ale, beer or cider. Taverns in the towns sold wine as well and might also have spirits, while inns sold alcoholic drinks and offered rooms for travelers.

When he was 24 years old, he married Elizabeth Wells from the village of Edgbaston which was 7 miles (11 km) away. They may have met at a fair or market in their area, or perhaps they already knew each other through their respective families. He and Elizabeth had 5 boys, William, George, Henry, John and Charles who all followed in their father’s footsteps; they also had 2 girls called Emma and Harriet.

In 1881, all of Caleb’s family is found only a handful of miles from Erdington, in or around Perry Barr and Kingstanding, where the Fodens had become well-known as tenant farmers of the Perry Bar estate.

Daughter Emma married in 1863 with Jeremiah Cutler. The Fodens and the Cutlers, another farming family, knew each other well, so well that Emma’s sister Harriet married Jeremiah’s brother, Linnaeus, in 1871. Both couples also worked as licensed victuallers.
In 1891, Emma and Jeremiah were at the Golden Cross Inn on Shortheath Road in Erdington, while Harriet and Linnaeus Cutler were the tenants of the Old Irish Harp Inn, which still stands to this day on Chester Road, in Aldridge, Walsall.

John, a market gardener, also married into the same Cutler family in 1870. He and Ellen Cutler were the tenants of the Hare & Hounds in Handsworth, then the Bush Inn at New Oscott.

William, Caleb’s eldest son, had 8 children and worked 60 acres on Kingstanding Farm. At 32 years old, he became tenant of the Royal Oak in Perry Barr, also known as the Parson & Clerk, and where he remained for 23 years until his death.

George had 9 children. When Caleb retired to Kettlehouse farm in 1881, George took over the 180 acres of Blakelands farm, Handsworth, from his father.
.../...
In 1891, Emma still at Golden Cross, Widow.Jeremiah having Died 26 Aug 1890.
 
Charles Foden was bailiff of 200 acres on a farm known as Booth’s farm from 1880 to 1894.

Booth’s Farm (demolished in 1974):

“Built of brick, 3 attics on the top floor, 4 bedrooms on the first floor, and on the ground floor 2 sitting rooms, kitchen, dairy and larder. Outside WC. Spring water pumped into the house by hydraulic ram.
Cowhouse for 20, stabling for 8, two barns, 3 pig sties, mixing house, granary, open cart house …. Plus 5 excellent cottages … the whole extending to 246 acres 0 roods 33 poles”.

One day in April 1884, Charles was digging in the orchard and turned up a parcel which had lain buried there for more than 70 years. It contained 2 engraved copper plates for producing £1 & £2 Bank of England banknotes. Other significant finds had earlier been made on the premises around 1871. This farm had taken its name from its most famous tenant, the forger William Booth, who had turned the top floor of the house into a workshop from which he produced skilled forgeries of coins and banknotes. He would instruct his servants to bury the evidence of each night’s production run. Booth was however, eventually convicted for forgery and hanged in 1812.

Another find was made in October 1956 by a workman removing the stump of a wooden post close to the house numbered 117 of the newly named Foden Road, some half a mile from Booth’s farmhouse. A find of 63 forged eighteen-pence Bank of England tokens was made. Today, one of these tokens would surely make in excess of £1000 at auction. Some of them can now be seen in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Charles was respected and well known in Perry Barr. Every good cause found him a liberal supporter. Charles went from Booth’s Farm to Park Farm in 1894 and the same year he was elected on the District Council of Perry Barr. He was also active in the District Agricultural and Horticultural Society.

Farms were isolated places, especially so Booth’s Farm, so Charles and Eliza’s children could not have had much social life after their school days and it’s no doubt his sons were hard working farmers. When Charles stopped working, he retired to 18 Holland Street, a seven roomed house in the nearby, pollution free, fashionable town of Sutton Coldfield. He was known there as a Gentleman, retired farmer.
.../...

Charles Foden (1843-1908)

What evidence exists to show that Charles was a liberal supporter of good causes?

In 1861 he is 19, living with Caleb, and down as a scholar.

In May 1875 he, along with other local farmers, was prosecuted for loitering in front of the Corn Exchange. He is described as from Hettell House, and also there in the 1871 Census. However I think these references should read Kettle House.

In 1884 Charles is refered to as the proprietor of Booth’s Farm.
 
There is an article in the newspaper about his Funeral where I found that info about him. Afraid I don't know anything about him being the owner of any of the farms he worked. The other tenant farming familys all seemed to change farms at the end of their lease.
 
I have found :
John Foden of Erdington + Sarah
11 children:
1801/1805? Hannah 1803 Joshua 1805 Calib 1807 Eliza 1809 John 1810 Sarah 1812 Mary Ann
1815 Isaac 1818 Esther 1820 Matthew 1822 Ann
Here we have the 2 brothers at ages that seem to right for marriages in 1829.

I haven't yet found any birth or marriage dates for John & Sarah

I think you might be mixing the children of John Foden, the elder, and John Foden, the son.

John Foden, the elder, married Sarah Bennet 1790 at St Edburgha, Yardley. I would guess that their last 2 children were Eliza 1807 and Sarah 1810.

John Foden, the son, the hay trusser, was born about 1790 and gives his birth as Yardley in 1861. He married Sarah Fitton 1808 at St Martin, Bham. Their children were John 1809, Mary Ann 1812 and everyone after, including another Caleb 1829.

The reason I've said Sarah is the youngest daughter of John Foden, the elder, and not the eldest daughter of John Foden, the son, is that her birthdate is given as 28 Apr 1810 which is too close to the birthdate of John Foden, the son's own son, John, which was 27 Sep 1809.

A lot of Johns and Sarahs there.
 
I think you might be mixing the children of John Foden, the elder, and John Foden, the son.

John Foden, the elder, married Sarah Bennet 1790 at St Edburgha, Yardley. I would guess that their last 2 children were Eliza 1807 and Sarah 1810.

John Foden, the son, the hay trusser, was born about 1790 and gives his birth as Yardley in 1861. He married Sarah Fitton 1808 at St Martin, Bham. Their children were John 1809, Mary Ann 1812 and everyone after, including another Caleb 1829.

The reason I've said Sarah is the youngest daughter of John Foden, the elder, and not the eldest daughter of John Foden, the son, is that her birthdate is given as 28 Apr 1810 which is too close to the birthdate of John Foden, the son's own son, John, which was 27 Sep 1809.

A lot of Johns and Sarahs there.
Thanks for the explication !
 
There is an article in the newspaper about his Funeral where I found that info about him. Afraid I don't know anything about him being the owner of any of the farms he worked. The other tenant farming familys all seemed to change farms at the end of their lease.
The newspaper was Handsworth Herald Feb 22, 1908
 
And more intriguing information.

There is no baptism for a John Foden at Yardley, however there is a baptism for a John Bennett 1790, the illegitimate son of a Sarah Bennett.

So it is possible that John Foden, the son, was not actually a Foden.

It might explain why he was only a hay trusser whereas Caleb and Joshua were farmers/publicans.
 
There is an article in the newspaper about his Funeral where I found that info about him. Afraid I don't know anything about him being the owner of any of the farms he worked. The other tenant farming familys all seemed to change farms at the end of their lease.

The reference in 1884 to Foden being the proprietor, I believe, would be to the "owner" of the lease. In 1931 one paper refers to the Foden family owning Booth's Farm for some 70 years. Again I think it should be the Leasehold.

However in 1921 a big proportion of the Perry Barr Estate belonging to Lord Calthorpe, was put up for sale. This included, amongst others, Booth's Farm and Kettle House Farm (and Hampstead Colliery, no bids).

Putting two and two together and making five...I think Booth’s Farm Land was purchased by Sir Holburt Jacob Waring of Wimpole Street in London. He could have had an eye on the “coal” beneath the land. He sold the land (Booth’s Farm) in 1926 to Arthur Foden but kept hold of the mineral rights. In 1929 Arthur was part of the formation of a Booth Crushed Gravel Co to exploit the sand and gravel on the surface. A legal battle then began with Sir Holburt claiming the sand was his !
 
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The reference in 1884 to Foden being the proprietor, I believe, would be to the "owner" of the lease. In 1931 one paper refers to the Foden family owning Booth's Farm for some 70 years. Again I think it should be the Leasehold.

However in 1921 a big proportion of the Perry Barr Estate belonging to Lord Calthorpe, was put up for sale. This included, amongst others, Booth's Farm and Kettle House Farm (and Hampstead Colliery, no birds).

Putting two and two together and making five...I think Booth’s Farm Land was purchased by Sir Holburt Jacob Waring of Wimpole Street in London. He could have had an eye on the “coal” beneath the land. He sold the land (Booth’s Farm) in 1926 to Arthur Foden but kept hold of the mineral rights. In 1929 Arthur was part of the formation of a Booth Crushed Gravel Co to exploit the sand and gravel on the surface. A legal battle then began with Sir Holburt claiming the sand was his !
Maybe that was one of the reasons he had so much money at the end of life, that plus probably, compensation for the land at the time it was taken over for housing.
 
Arthur won the battle against Sir Holburt as the law decided that you could not develop land without removing the topsoil. This did not form part of the minerals beneath.
 
I assume that this is the same Cutler family who owned Cutler's Garage which used to stand next to the Hardwick Arms in Streetly. (Next pub along, going south, from the Irish Harp). Too geographically close to be a coincidence, possibly.

Chris
2 Cutler Brothers Married 2 Foden Sisters.Jeremiah=Emma;Linnaeus(1841)=Harriet(1843).Emma and Harriet's Father was Caleb Foden 1805.Linnaeus 1841's Son was Linnaeus Charles, his Son was Linnaeus William Cutler who set up Cutler's Garage.
 

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2 Cutler Brothers Married 2 Foden Sisters.Jeremiah=Emma;Linnaeus(1841)=Harriet(1843).Emma and Harriet's Father was Caleb Foden 1805.Linnaeus 1841's Son was Linnaeus Charles, his Son was Linnaeus William Cutler who set up Cutler's Garage.
Linnaeus William was born 1897, perhaps he knew James Foden (1890) who lived on Hardwick Road. Do you think they could have been partners or anything as he too had a garage on Burnett Road.
 
THE CUTLER CONNECTION

Coming forward a few years, I have been trying to understand the connection between the Fodens and the Cutlers. The following is an interpretation of what I think some of the earlier posts have been saying and is supplemented with some new information which I have now received.

I believe that the grandchildren of Caleb (1805) and Elizabeth Wells, via George (1833 who married Sarah Goodwin) included:

George Frederick (1862/3) who married Alice Eliza Lees
John Charles (? 1864)
Emma (? 1866)
Harriet (1871)

If that is correct, George Frederick's siblings married as follows:
John Charles married Ellen Cutler
Emma married Jeremiah Cutler (Pedrocut's ancestor)
Harriet married Linnaeus (b.1841,Witton) on 1st February 1871 at St Peter and St Paul's, Aston

How closely these various Cutlers were related, I don't know.

Linnaeus and Harriet ran the Irish Harp between 1886 and 1905. Images of them both have survived. Amongst their children was Linnaeus C. Linnaeus C and his wife produced Linnaeus William Cutler (1897-1956); he later married Elsie May Hall (1896-1963).

Linnaeus William went on to own Cutler's Garage which stood next door to the Hardwick Arms in Streetly on the Chester Road. I am unclear when it started but it was certainly operating in the 1930s and 1940s and survived for many years after the war before its eventual demolition and replacement by a block of apartments. I have several very clear memories of it in the war years and immediately afterwards, as well as a few images.

Linnaeus William lived in the 1940s in Wood Lane, Streetly and had, I believe, three children; two sons have passed away but a daughter survives. I have contact with her.

The Foden/Cutler involvement in the motor trade is of interest. Earlier in this thread we have learned that there was a Foden and Walters Garage in Burnett Road, Streetly, in the 1920s. There was also, later than that, a large commercial vehicle garage a few hundred yards away from the Hardwick on the corner of Foley and Chester Roads (it may be still there, for all I know). In my childhood in the 1940s this was always known as "Foden's Garage". I never knew whether this was an indication of ownership or of one make of motor lorry which was serviced there. If it had been the latter I assume that the name would have more likely been been "the Foden Garage". So perhaps the Fodens added the motor trade to their successful farming and pub interests.

Anyway, that's a few more pinches to add to the pot. If anyone can easily check my interpretation of the siblings of George Frederick, I should be grateful.

Chris
I have the Children of George Foden/Sarah Goodwin thus:-
George Frederick 1862
2xMales Twins 1864 Died young
Catherine M 1865
Harriet 1867
Thomas Henry 1869
William Goodwin 1871
Frances Ellen 1873
Gertrude 1876
Margaret 1878
Mary Alice 1880
 
2 Cutler Brothers Married 2 Foden Sisters.Jeremiah=Emma;Linnaeus(1841)=Harriet(1843).Emma and Harriet's Father was Caleb Foden 1805.Linnaeus 1841's Son was Linnaeus Charles, his Son was Linnaeus William Cutler who set up Cutler's Garage.


Thanks, jr_stanley. AND, it seems, their sister, Ellen, married John Charles, the brother of Emma and Harriet....

Chris
 
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