Full name: Caroline Wheeler (née Enock).
Date of birth: Tuesday, 24th February, 1807.
Birthplace: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
Date of death: Saturday, 17th September, 1842 (aged 35 years).
Place of death: Frindsbury, Kent, England.
Cause of death: Phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis).
(née Robinson)
(1781-1853)
Edmund Wheeler (1808-1884). |
Date of marriage: Wednesday, 20th February, 1833.
Place of marriage: Quaker Meeting House, Birmingham, England.
A detailed biography of Edmund can be found here: http://microscopist.net/WheelerE.html
1807-c1821 - Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
c1821-? - New Dale (just outside Telford), Shropshire, England.
The above map shows a present map layered on top of the 1882 Shropshire OS map. The New Dale village sits just below junction 6 of the M54.
A closer look: Newdale seen on the 1882 Shropshire OS map.
The area appears to have remained unchanged right up until c1977. The area is now currently under development.
1824-1833 - Birmingham, England.
1835-1842 - 3, Kings Street, Dover, Kent, England.
Tuesday, 15th June, 1819 - Saturday, 24th March, 1821 - Ackworth School, Pontefract Road, Ackworth, Pontefract, England.
Admit number: 4195.
Agent: Bernard Dickinson.
Admission: 10 guineas per annum [£10.50 in today's money, measuringworth's calculator would say the relative value is £921.30.]
Life at Ackworth.
Pupils remained at Ackworth for the full duration of their education.
Scholars studied during the day, and undertook some manual work out-of-hours.
The curriculum between 1819-1821 consisted of:
Manual work included:
- Mending the linen
- Waiting at the Housekeeper's table where the members of staff took their meals
- Taking it in turns to assist the laundress and the mantua maker
An essential feature to education at Ackworth was meeting for worship. A small part of every day was devoted to silent and serious thoughtfulness.
Staff at Ackworth during Caroline's schooling:
Superintendent: Robert Whitaker
Superintendent: Robert Whitaker
Principal Mistress: Isabella Harris (Reading Mistress)
Mistresses: Jane Stickney, Mary Polley
Housekeeper: Hannah Whitaker
Mantua-Maker: Elizabeth Cole, Susanna Smith
Nurse: Mary Dumbledon
Principal Tailor: Leonard West
Principal Shoemaker: Samuel Whalley
Baker: Isaac Wormall, Philip K. Jackson
Death notice:
"Sept 17, Frindsbury, near Rochester, of pulmonary consumption, Caroline, wife of Mr Edmund Wheeler, late ironmonger of Dover, age 35." - Kent Gazette - 17th September 1842
"I have just checked the Rochester minutes & certs, but no indication she or the family transferred to the Rochester Meeting. There is merely a burial note recorded and the cert was sent to the Folkestone meeting where she was still a member. She is not interred in Rochester Friends Ground, so presumably her body was taken back to her home. She appears to have been on a visit to her in laws when she died, but her husband had stayed in Dover." - Catharina Clement
The family after Caroline's death:
"He gave up his post as registrar for the Folkestone meeting in September 1842 and removed to Birmingham meeting with his 4 children in January 1843. (Mary Caroline is still alive then), but deceased by the time the family come to Rochester in March 1848. She either died in Hants or Birmingham. I would assume he went to his in laws the Enocks. From there the family moved to Basingstoke MM in late 1846 where he joined the Mechanics Institute and gave his first recorded lectures and patented his invention in 1847. By 1848 he is briefly at Rochester meeting, but returns a few months later back to Hants without his children. They all leave for Southwark MM in Sept 1849 & the family to 47 Nelson Square in London. Edmund jnr came back to Rochester for two years in 1852-4 as a minor, presumably to undertake an apprenticeship before returning to join his father at Finsbury Circus in London." - Catharina Clement
Additional information on Caroline and family can be found here: http://photohistory-sussex.co.uk/BTNWheelerEdmundjnr.htm
Page updated 27th March, 2021.