Lydia (Collis) Hardy (abt. 1837 - 1925)

Born about 1837 in Great Dunmow, Essex, England

Ancestors

Wife of John Hardy — married 22 Oct 1875 in Strood, Kent, England

Died 5 Nov 1925 at about age 88 in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England

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Biography

Little is known about Lydia. She appears to have lived with her mother and after Harriet's death with a cousin.

DNA match with a possible descendant of Lydia Hardy, led to the discovery of Lydia's marriage to John Hardy in 1875. Lydia and John had three daughters, though only Lydia Mary Bowen Hardy survived.

According to the census Lydia was born around 1837 in Great Dunmow. As her birth does not seem to have been registered this was probably in the first half of the year as birth registration did not commence only July that year. She was the only daughter of Collis-152 and Vize-19. She and her brothers were not baptised until 1852 so it is not possible to further pinpoint her birth date.

Her parents operated an iron monger business in Great Dunmow. Her father died when she was only 3 years old but her mother kept the business, remarrying in 1843.

From 1867-1874 she is listed in the Post Office Directory as resident at the Great Dunmow school, so probably worked as a school mistress.

In 1875 she married John Hardy, a widower who worked as a druggist in Chelmsford. They married in Kent - no idea why. John had one surviving daughter from his first marriage, Sabina Elizabeth, and he and Lydia had three daughters, twins Lydia Florence and Harriet Bowen who died in infancy, and Lydia Mary Bowen.

They lived in Bishop Stortford and it's probable Lydia's mother came to live there too as this is where she died in 1880. Later they moved to Bourton on the Water, and this is where John died in 1911. Lydia's death was registered in Chipping Norton in 1925 though she was buried in Bourton on the Water with John.

Sources

• 1841 census Great Dunmow, Essex
• Note: no census for Great Dunmow 1851
• Baptism 9 Jul 1852 Great Dunmow St Mary The Virgin
• 1861 census Great Dunmow, Essex
• 1871 census Great Dunmow, Essex
• Marriage 22 Oct 1875 Strood St Nicholas, Kent
• Marriage registered Oct Quarter 1875 North Aylesford, Kent
• 1881 census Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire
• 1891 census South Ockenden, Essex (as Lydia Collis)
• 1901 census Bourton, Gloucestershire
• 1911 census Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire
• Death registered Oct Quarter 1925 Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
• Burial 11 Nov 1925 Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire
• Probate 10 Dec 1925 Oxford