Housemaid in 1814 How old?

I know this an almost impossible question to answer!

In Old Bailey Trials for 1814 I found a reference to one of
my line. a housemaid (Surname is VERY unusual and I've never
yet found anybody with that name I can't fit into my tree -
and thats going back to 1463, with over 400 names!)

Problem is she is listed as being 21. That is not a
transcription error because the original is also shown)

I can fit this lady in perfectly if she was 41 ! But I'm a
total loss if she is 21.

C Rihan...

May be she would only admit to being 21, and was one
of those ladies who remain at that age?
That wouild mean she was to be treated as a n adult,
rather than a child.

C Rihan...

As long as she was fit enough to do the work, the age wouldn't
matter.

Eve McLaughlin...

a.misreading of the 4 as a 2, quite possible in Victorian writing.
b. 'over 21', used loosely.

Clutching at straws if the arrest document or the Newgate
documents (which are not available, but which presumably
were the source for he Old Bailey documents) listed her
birth year as 1794 in mistake for 1774 then everything makes
sense. Her co-accused, a cook was as it happened
coincidentally 41

But, how likely is a 41 year old to be a housemaid ? Most
housemaids I've seen references to are much younger than

roy...

And I've seen references to housemaids older than that. Usually they
were spinsters who'd never married but made a career out of domestic
service, or sometimes they were the wife of a male servant working
in the same household. Are you absolutely sure the original shows
1794 and not 1774? It seems to me a 7 and a 9 could very easily be
mistaken in old handwriting and the nature of a hand-written figure

Jeff...

The Old Bailey Document shows an age not a birth year. It is
a printed not handwritten document.. The straw I'm clutching
at is that there must have been a handwritten source
document that may have quoted birth year.

would surely vary considerably from one hand to another. If it's such
a rare surname, can you not find her in the IGI, parish registers or
whatever?

Jeff...

Have never found a baptism for her. Census tells me she was
born in Hackney/Shoreditch (actually listed as Kingsland).
I've searched at Met Archives every possible PR.

Roy Stockdill

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."

Mark Twain

that.

Eve McLaughlin...

If she soldiered on in the same household, quite possible. Maybe
something snapped after all the years I've worked for them@...

Just when I thought I'd got that line nicely wrapped up this
darn woman appears from nowhere with a supposed birth date
which precludes her from being in any of my identified

C Rihan...

Another possiblity is that she had given a false name.

Best wishes
C.Rihan

families.