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My gt grandfather, William Graham, had meanwhile taken an apprenticeship as a Currier - according to the dictionary definition: "One who dresses and colours leather after it is tanned". He probably began his apprenticeship at around 14 years of age and would have been bound to his Master until he became 21. This was a very serious contract and an apprentice who absconded could be forcefully returned. At the same time, the Master was bound to train the apprentice in his art, accommodate and feed the apprentice in his own home, as part of the family and to provide a new set of clothes for him at the end of his time of service.

William would have been freed from his obligations to his Master around 1838. He took himself 40 miles from Lincoln to Boston, Lincolnshire where he set up business as a Currier. Boston is on the east coast of England and at that time was an important port. At 23 years of age, William married Susannah, a fisherman’s daughter in the Boston cathedral, St Botolph’s, otherwise known as the “Boston Stump” because of its unusually stocky bell tower. William, unable to sign his name, placed his Mark. The parish record reads:

• "May 10 1841, William Graham of full age, Bachelor, Currier of Lincoln Lane, father Matthias Graham, labourer, married Susannah Markham (a minor) Spinster of Lincoln Lane, father William Markham, fisherman, after Banns, in the Parish church, Boston."

William and Susannah are found a month later in the June 4 1841 Census. They had moved to St George’s Lane, Boston and William is described again as a Currier. Their ages are shown as 20 and 15 but this is because all adult ages in that census were rounded downwards to the nearest "5". We know Susannah was under 21 because of her description in the marriage record as "a minor" and because her age is shown as 15 in the Census, we know she was under the age of 20, therefore between 15 and 19 years old. What happened to Susannah? She must have died, perhaps in childbirth as so many did in those days but I have been unable to find any record of her burial. We know that William was free to marry again just eight years later so Susannah must have died a very young woman.

St Botolph’s church, Boston - "The Boston Stump"

Lincoln Lane, Boston