John Snowdon

Died 7th October 1849

Above: John Snowdon Jnrs  birth record

John Snowdon was, according to his obituary in the Newcastle Courant, a saddler from Dispensary Street, Alnwick. He was one of four to die from Cholera on 7th October 1849.


We found a John Snowdon who was a saddler on the 1841 census for Clayport Street. He was married to Isabella (Cuthbertson) and had three sons;  John 6, George 4 and Thomas 1.

Looking at the Bishops Transcripts we found that John and Isabella were married in St Michael’s Church, Alnwick on New Year’s Day 1834. Their sons were all baptised in St Mary’s Catholic Church, now the Bailiffgate museum. John was baptised on 12/10/1834, George on 21/8/1836 and Thomas on 22/12/1839.

Between the census and 1849, when the cholera struck, the Snowdon family moved from Clayport to Dispensary St. Another son, Robert Bickerton Snowdon was born on 12/3/1844.

When John died, aged just 38 it plunged the family into poverty. In 1851 the census records that Isabella was a “pauper /washerwoman.” We now learn that she was born in Rennington, and son John was a 16 year old apprentice joiner. Life must have been a struggle.

By 1861, Isabella was recorded as living in Snowball’s Yard off Clayport. She was working as a laundress. Of her two older children, Thomas was a coach smith and Robert B was a tobacconist, AND there was a fifth son in the family. William was a 9 year old scholar born in 1852, three years after her husband’s death!

By 1871 all her sons had left home and Isabella had a lodger for a bit of extra income. She died 1878 age 68. Where had her five sons gone?

-John had married Ellen Mills from Newcastle and they had four sons and a daughter in Newcastle before returning to Alnwick, where he worked as a cabinet maker.

-George also went to Newcastle and worked as a coach fitter, after marrying  a Thomasin Darling in Alnwick, in 1860. By the 1871 census, they had three daughters all born in Newcastle.   Youngest brother William (17) was staying with George and Thomasin, but not working. Sadly George died in 1876 age 39.

-Thomas was the only brother to stay in Alnwick, working as a coach smith in Clayport. He married Elizabeth (from Spindleson).
They had one son and three daughters, and were living and working in
Spours Yard. By 1911, Thomas and Elizabeth were 71 and 69 respectively and living in Short’s Building, Clayport. A granddaughter Elizabeth Percy Jackson was staying with them.

-Robert moved to Darlington. By 1901 he was still single, at 57, and worked as a tobacco spinner.

-William married Ann from Alnwick and moved to Newcastle where he became a fishmonger at 77, Shield St. They had four children and a servant living with them on the 1901 census, so he appears to have done reasonably well for himself.

1849 Cholera Outbreak
Ann Allison George, Susan and Isabella Anderson Ann Appleby John Douglas Arnott John Balmer Ann Bamburgh Isabella Bell Jane Berkley Sarah, Robert, Sarah Black Dorothy and Jane Brankston Ann Brown Isabella Burn Elizabeth Burnett Sarah Burnett Mary Carr Thomas Carr John Cavenah Julia Dixon, Appalina Cooper Harvey and Catherine Cross Edward Davis George and Jane Davison William Dick John and Sarah Dickman Isabella Dixon Adam Dixon Rebecca Dobbs John Douglas Jane Douglas Jane Duncan Robert Duncan Ann Egdell Ralph Emmerson Ann Fawdon, Ann Fawdon Mary Ann Featherstone Henry and Ellen Mary Ferguson Isabella Flannaghan George and Eleanor Forster Robert Gardner Elizabeth Gray Dorothy Grey Robert Grey Thomasine Grey Mary and Henry Hedley Mary Henderson James and Ann Hindmarsh William Howey Ann Hudson, Ann Hudson George Hume, Alice Hume John Hunter Dorothy Jameson, Jane Jackson Joseph Jamison Thomas Jeffrey Elizabeth Jobson Mary Joicey James Keen, Margery Keen Frances Laing George Lindsay, John Lindsay Catherine Lockey James Lockey Ann Lough Patrick Macone Margaret Marshall Mary Maule Latitia McLaughlin James McMillan Thomas McMillan Neil McNab Elizabeth Mennim Catherine Metcalf Ann Middlemas Margaret Millar Mary Mills Margaret Moffit Jane Morrison Ann Nesbitt Ann Newton John Newton James Paxton Ann Pearson Mary and Isabella Pickard George Pike Rebecca Quin Mary and William Ramsay George Reed Thomas and Ann Robarts Michael Sanderson James Skelly George Slight Elizabeth Smails John Smith Sarah Smith John Snowdon Jane Snowdon Robert Stansfield John Stocker Robert Tate Dinah and Charlotte Tate George Taylor Grace and Jane Taylor Mary Thew Thomas Thompson Jane Thompson Henry Tinson John Walker Robert Wallace Alice Wardhaugh John and Robert Wardle Thomas Wilkinson James Williams Mary Wilson Elizabeth Wood Appendix-James Wood