The Quaker Connection

Daniel, as already mentioned, was a notable Norfolk surgeon, and it is not surprising, perhaps, that so many of his sons followed in his footsteps: George, Robert, James and Charles all continued the medical tradition of their father and forbears such as Hannah (ELLINGTON) ALDIS, affectionately referred to by family researchers as ‘Hannah the Healer’ from references to her nursing skills in parish records. While George and Robert practised in East Anglia, respectively in Stowmarket and Hoxne, James and Charles moved to London to ply their trade. James, born the 7th of January 1769 at Tivetshall, died the 6th of January 1813 in London and was buried the 10th of January 1813 at Gracechurch Quaker Meeting House. James married Hannah DARLON the 11th of November 1800 at Devonshire House, London, and their daughter Lucy Hannah was born in 1802. Lucy married Richard MILLER of Loughton, Essex, at Clare, Suffolk, in 1827. Hannah survived James by some 20 years; she died the 13th of May 1832 at Bridge House Place, Newington, of Causeway Meeting House, Southwark, and was buried the 22nd of May 1832 in Whitechapel, East London. Hannah’s Will, dated the 17th of April 1832, was proved the 16th of June 1832. Hannah seems to have lost contact with James’s family; even her own daughter Luch Hannah is not mentioned in her Will. Instead, she makes bequests to her sister Elizabeth Allbright, with whom she was living at 36 Bridge House Place, Newington, Surrey, to another sister Mary Ann, to brother Thomas, and her “worthy friends” William Faret and James Pottison. James had been a surgeon of LittleportCambs where sister Esther lived with her husband Charles. James, it would seem, was persuaded by brother-in-law Charles to abandon surgery and go into business with him. The venture failed, James and Charles both being declared bankrupt in 1802. James remained with Hannah in London, however, becoming a successful toyman and stationer of the Pavement, Moorfields between 1807 and 1813. In recognition of his business success and civic contribution, he was made Freeman of the City of London. Possibly James died suddenly - he was only 45 - since he left no Will.

John, born the 7th of April 1775 at Tivetshall, joined his several other siblings in London. He married Sarah MARTIN the 22nd of June 1808 at the Gracechurch Street Meeting House, and the couple had two children, Henry Martin and Elizabeth, the latter living for only eleven days between the 27th of November and the 7th of December 1813. Born at Paradise Street, St. Lukes, Elizabeth was buried at Bunhill Fields Quaker Burial Ground. Her brother Henry Martin ALDIS (an interesting example of a wife’s maiden name being retained as a son’s given name), born in St. Agnes Street, St. Leonards, was baptised the 27th of January 1811 at Devonshire Meeting House. In 1835 Henry married Charlotte BROWN at St. Mary’s Haggerston; of their six children, only two, Ida Elizabeth, who was a beneficiary in her father’s Will, and Ellen survived infancy. Henry Martin himself, who had been a beneficiary in his Aunt Rachel’s Will of 1836, died in 1853. A ‘whitesmith’ by trade (whitesmiths made articles out of metal, especially tin, or worked as polishers/finishers of metal artifacts), Henry made his Will the 7th of July 1853, proved the 13th of September 1853. His father John, a letter caster and printer of Moorfields, died the 18th of September 1819 at St. John Hackney and was buried the 23rd of September at Bunhill Fields. Sarah outlived him for almost 20 years before her death the 11th of January 1837 at Amelia Street, Walworth. She also was buried at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, Moorgate, London, the 18th of January 1837. The Will of Sarah (MARTIN) ALDIS, dated the 6th of December 1836, was proved the 20th of April 1837. Sarah bequeathed particular personal items - “to cousin Elizabeth my silk shawl,” to “Martha Price charge of my furniture” - and mentions her brother Joshua and son Henry. She seems to have died a widow of modest circumstances.

Robert ALDIS, born the 16th of August 1764 at Moulton, Norfolk, was a surgeon in Hoxne, Suffolk. He married Elizabeth LINES, born in 1762 at Thorpe Abbotts, the 11th of August 1791 at Billingford. Robert’s Will, dated the 17thof October 1835 and proved the 27th of August 1840, left his household furniture and personal estate to his wife Elizabeth, and names sons Josiah Lines of Harleston and Robert of Hoxne as executors. Of their seven children, Richard, born in 1791 at Dickleburgh, who married widow Milton (NEWSON) YANDALL in 1822, was the only one to pursue a career in medicine, being a doctor in Metfield until his death in 1863 (MI). Most of the other children of Robert and Elizabeth went into trade. Josias Lines ALDIS (1795-1872), who married Susanna HAYWARD of Wymondham in 1824 and had three children with her, was a grocer and draper in Harleston. His brother Charles Daniel, born at Hoxne in 1807, was his shopman for a part of his life. Robert, also born at Hoxne in 1802, was a miller there. Of note also is daughter Mary, born at Hoxne in 1800, who married Robert BRADLEY in 1821 and lived at Stanton in Suffolk; she was bequeathed 19 guineas (modern equivalent about £850) in the Will of Aunt Rachel of Tottenham, London, in 1836. It is also worth mentioning how many of this family retained maiden names (LINES, NEWSON, MILTON) as second given names to their children. Edward Josias ALDIS (1832-1905), son of Josias Lines and Susanna, took over his father’s business in Harleston; and his son William Edward, born at Redenhall in 1869, remained a Norfolk man until his death in 1955.