Unknown female Blacksmith late 19th/early 20th century
Jane Ovenden was born Jane Page in Chiddingley, Sussex in 1825. She was the daughter of a shoemaker Peter Page and his wife Sarah. As a young woman she was working as the only servant to an elderly farmer and his wife, in the village of Frant, just south of Tunbridge Wells. While she was there she met Blacksmith George Ovenden and in 1844 they were married at St Nicholas Church, Brighton. They started married life at 117 Sussex Street, Queen’s Park, where George was registered as a Blacksmith in the 1851 census.
Sometime within the next 10 years the Ovendens moved to 36 Marlborough Place in the parish of St Peter’s where they ran their Farrier business. Horses would have been common sights in central Brighton, as they pulled coaches and carts through the streets, and they were well situated just along from the King and Queen Inn (still there today in Marlborough Place) which in early Victorian England would have been a stop – off for London to Brighton horse drawn stagecoaches.
Jane’s husband died in 1871 and Jane was described as Head of Household and “Shoeing Smith” in the 1881 census; and a Farrier in 1891, by which time she was 66 years old. She had retired by the next census and was living with her Son in law (also a Blacksmith) and Daughter at 11 Waterloo Place, Hove. In all the censuses she had younger male blacksmiths working alongside her, but it’s safe to say that she most likely worked as a Blacksmith for well over 25 years or maybe longer.
How common were female Blacksmiths/ Farriers in the 1800s ?
Extract from Working the Flame.com :
“Most women became wives and mothers, general labourers, or were fortunate enough to marry into wealth and run a large household. Blacksmithing would not have been an option for such women and most women would not choose a career in blacksmithing over the more stable and socially acceptable role of mother and wife.
A common misconception regarding female blacksmiths in history is that they were not ‘allowed’ to do the work of men and that is why there were relatively few women working in blacksmithing and other male-dominated trades. In reality, medieval guilds and other trade organisations that emerged throughout history generally had no issues with women taking over their husbands’ businesses or becoming apprentices.”