Christmas Eve 1823 William Leg Rolls marries Leah Soper
in St Andrews church in the ancient hamlet of Bloxworth, Dorset
Children start to follow, Mary, William, Robert and JOHN all (possibly with the exception of William) are all recorded as `Ralls` or `Rolls` in the Bloxworth parish records.
`Leg` or `Legg` appears to be more of a middle name at this time. Johns baptism appears at the top of the page but further down in the Parish Record below is the baptism record of John and Elizabeth Whiffen`s son, George, who also has `Legg` added after his christian name, why?
It is worth remembering that life in darkest Dorset was very hard and most working families were illiterate and all including the children worked. At least this baptism record from Bloxworth records William being a Shepherd, perhaps a more pleasant aspect of rural work.
This record is dated 1 year after the famous Tolpuddle Martyrs protest - Tolpuddle is just 5 miles to the West of Bloxworth; " Tolpuddle Martyrs, six English farm labourers, who were sentenced in March 1834 to 7 years transportation to a penal colony in Australia for organising trade union activities" - they were just trying to improve theirs and others lives...