Henry Sanford appears first in the tithe apportionment for Chalfont St Giles in 1838 as the owner and occupier of the house that now bears his name.
In 1851 he appears again, with his wife Elizabeth, in the National Census taken that year. He is described as aged 67, a grocer, but his birthplace is not known. Whether he did not know his birthplace, or whether the enumerator did not get the information from him, we do not know. His wife Elizabeth is aged 59 and was born in Wycombe.
Looking at all other occurrences of the name Sanford (excluding Sandford) within Buckinghamshire in the 1851 census there are only nine households with one or more Sanford in residence. Four of these are in Aylesbury, one in Walton Street and three in Cambridge Street. It is very significant that, of these four, two are shopkeepers, one is a general broker and the other a greengrocer. With only nine households across the whole of Buckinghamshire it does imply that the family comes from some other county.
(We are not able to do a nationwide search on the 1851 census although we can on the 1881 census, 30 years later. Unfortunately there is no evidence of a clear single location where the Sanford's originated.)
From the Chalfont St Giles Parish Registers we know that Henry Sanford was buried on 25th March 1868 when his age is given as 88 and at the time of his death he was living in Watford. The National Probate Index gives additional information. He was living at 8 Portman Terrace, Watford New Town when died on 18 March 1868, and is described as "Gentleman". He left a Will and an estate of just under £2,500. His sole executor was Robert Philips of Amersham, Innkeeper. Elisabeth Sanford pre-deceased him and was buried 15th August 1862, aged 70.
From the ages given in the 1851 census Henry Sanford would have been born in 1784 and his wife in 1792. From the ages given when they died Henry would have been born in 1780 and Elisabeth still in 1792. We can look on the International Genealogy Index for his birth or baptism and their marriage. The only Henry Sanford shown born between 1780 and 1784 is a Henry Sanford born "about 1780" in Nynehead, Somerset. There is however a marriage of a Henry Sanford and an Elizabeth Stone on 26th September 1814 at Spitalfields Christchurch, Stepney, London. If this is their marriage he would have been 34 and she would have been 22. If they had children then by 1851 those children would be no older than 37 and George Sanford in Aylesbury, who is a general broker aged 32 could conceivably be a child of Henry Sanford. We can also search in the 1881 census for Sanfords aged between 57 and 67. Only two appear in 1881 across all of the southeastern counties. Thomas Sanford who was a grocer aged 59 and living in Worth in Sussex;, and George Hanwell Sanford who is a broker aged 64 and living in Aylesbury.
This brief note is from a quick review of easily available records. Much more could no doubt be discovered from more intensive research.
John Dodd. March 2004.
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