Jane Pitt (?-?)

Research Notes

The identity of William Ringrose Pitts‘ mother, Jane, remains elusive.

The birth of a “William Ringrose” at Mainridge, Boston, to butler William Ringrose and Jane (née Pitt) was registered in Boston on 23 November by the mother. However, no record of a marriage was found during research. Nor do either William or Jane appear in the Boston area in the 1851/61/71 censuses. Nor have I been able to locate a viable William Ringrose (assuming that was indeed the father’s name) in the 1861 census.

A few months late, unmarried servant Jane Pitt of Kirkby on Bain baptised her son “William Ringrose Pitt” at Kirkby on Bain. Given that the township would have financial responsibility for the child of an unmarried mother, it seems certain that Jane was indeed from the Kirkby area.

The above two records are almost certainly for William Ringrose Pitts (1864-1926).

When my father Mark Pattern did his research, he decided that Jane was Jane Pitts born c1848 at Morton, Lincs., the daughter of Joseph and Jane Pitts. By 1861, she was a 13-year-old servant working at the house of Charles Richardson (48) of Morton. However, it raises the question of why a pregnant Jane (aged about 16) then gave birth in Boston (25 miles away) and then had the child baptised at Kirkby (over 30 miles north of Morton).

The only other potential mother that I could locate was Jane Pitts born c1838 at Edenham, Lincs., the daughter of shoemaker John & Ann Pitts. Jane was baptised on 17 June 1838 at Edenham. By 1861, she was a 24-year-old laundry maid working at 17 miles away at Denton Hall, Grantham, the residence of former M.P. Sir Glynne Earle Welby. The census of that year lists 25 servants at the hall, although unfortunately no butler named “William Ringrose”. However, it is worth noting that in 1861, farm bailiff William Ringrose (aged 26) was at residing at Knipton which was 3 miles to the west of Denton Hall. Could it be that William worked as a farm bailiff on Sir Welby’s estate and met Jane? Again, we have the issue that both Edenham and Denton are over 30 miles away from Kirkby on Bain when it comes to the baptism.

If William’s mother was indeed the Edenham Jane, she appears to have spent the final years of her life as an elderly widow with a young adopted daughter named Ethel Watson.

To date, I’ve not been able to locate a Jane Pitt(s) who has a clear link to Kirkby on Bain.