Lancelot Hudson 1737-1784 and Elizabeth Wardell 1733-1799

Lancelot and Elizabeth are my 4 x great-grandparents. Lancelot was born in 1737 in the parish of Edlingham, Northumberland, England. His birthplace is stated in the parish register as Overthwarts, which appears on 19th century maps to be a farm. His father, also Lancelot, was a "hind" - a skilled farm worker so living on a farm makes sense.

I have no information on Lancelot's childhood. By 1764, in his late twenties, Lancelot had moved to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, a small town in Northumberland.  There's no record of the work Lancelot was doing in Newbiggin, but the town was a fishing and cargo port and it's position on the edge of the Northumberland coalfield makes it likely that it was a coal port in the second half of the 18th century. His known occupations later in life suggest that he was working in the port in Newbiggin.

On 13 December 1764, Lancelot married Elizabeth Wardell at St Bartholomew's Church, Newbiggin. I have no information about Elizabeth before this point. She was around 30 when she married Lancelot, but I've found nothing to indicate where or when she was born.

The couple had their first two children in Newbiggin - Thomas baptised in mid-1765 and Elizabeth baptised in late 1766. After Elizabeth's birth, they moved south to the growing town of Sunderland, Co Durham. They settled initially in Numbers Garth, on the edge of the rapidly growing town of Sunderland, but in the parish of Bishopwearmouth. Two more children were born here, Lancelot in 1768 and Richard in 1770. The family moved house into the parish of Sunderland, where three more sons were born - William in 1773, a second William in 1775 and Ralph in 1778. Records indicate that Lancelot was involved in the coal trade here, as a keelman and a coal caster.

Lancelot died in April of 1784, aged only 47. The burial record doesn't indicate how he died. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Sunderland. Elizabeth stayed in Sunderland, raising their younger children (William was only 8 when his father died, and Richard was 14). She eventually died in 1799, at the age of 66. By this time she was living in Bishopwearmouth (possibly with her eldest son Thomas who was also in Bishopwearmouth by this time). She was buried with her husband in Holy Trinity graveyard.

The children:

Thomas 1765-1827
Elizabeth 1766-??
Lancelot 1768-1812
Richard 1770-1821
William 1773-?? (presumed to have died as an infant)
William 1775-1824
Ralph 1778-1783