Born: Abt 1783

Census: 1841, East Street, Ashburton, Devonshire ¹

Census: 1851, 41 New Rd, Stepney, Middlesex ²

Married: Dec 1846, London, Thomas Smerdon ³

marriage register entry is in the London Banns and Marriages database.
Jan Wood has the 1841 census showing her in Ashburton with some of Thomas's cousins.
Thomas SMERDON remarried at the end of 1846 in London. His marriage was to an elderly spinster
named Sarah MUGFORD who had been born in either Exeter or Ashburton, Devon, sometime between
1779 and 1786. Thomas SMERDON, a 65 year old widower, clerk in Her Majesty's Customs of 41
Gloucester Terrace, Stepney, the son of Thomas SMERDON, merchant, was married to 60 year old
spinster Sarah MUGFORD, of Heavitree, near Exeter, Devon, at the parish church of St. Peter
upon Cornhill, London, on Christmas Eve 1846.  The ceremony was performed by curate the Reverend
Thomas GROSE, and the witnesses to the marriage were W.GROVES and Elizabeth GROVES.   Their
marriage was registered in the last quarter of 1846 in the City of London Registration District

Notes:

Jan Wood reports
She was born in either Exeter or Ashburton, Devon, sometime between 1779 and 1786.
Sarah MUGFORD was the daughter of James MUGFORD, a fuller and Freeman of the city of Exeter,
and grand-daughter of a woolcomber named John MUGFORD who had also been a Freeman. She had
a sister named Hannah who had been born in Exeter in about 1784, and baptised in the Bow (later
Mint) or St George's Independent Meeting, and who never married. Hannah MUGFORD lived
in Heavitree parish; in March 1851 when the census was taken, she was aged 67, and was living
there with an elderly lodger named Elizabeth MITCHELL. Sarah also had an older brother named
Philip MUGFORD, born in about 1776 in Exeter, who began life as an apprentice fuller and
who also became a Freeman of the City of Exeter, though later in life he became a publican
in Alphington Street, across the River Exe in Exeter St Thomas. It seems most likely that
Sarah had also been born in Exeter, though her baptism and that of her brother have not been
found. It is not clear how she could have met Thomas, though it could have been through her
family's membership of the Independent Chapel. Then again it could have been because the MUGFORDS
of Ashburton, who were publicans and local businessmen, were related to the Exeter MUGFORDS.
The MUGFORD sisters certainly knew Nathan BECK and may have been related to him; he
later acted as executor of Hannah's will.

I think that Sarah SMERDON died in Heavitree in 1862, as the death of a woman of that name was
registered in St. Thomas Registration District in the second quarter of that year. Her sister
Hannah MUGFORD died on 24 April 1862 at Heavitree and her death was registered in St. Thomas
Registration District in the same quarter of the same year. The will of Hannah MUGFORD was
proved on 15 September 1862 at Exeter by her executors Richard BULPIN of St. Thomas Exeter,
gentleman and Nathan BECK of Ashburton, gentleman. Her effects were valued at under £200.

1841 census
Sarah MUGFORD, aged about 55 [rounded down to the nearest 5 years] and described as "independent",
appears to have been living in the same house in Ashburton with Thomas's cousin Sarah BECK
nee SMERDON, her husband Nathan BECK and their family.
1861
widow Sarah Smerdon, aged 81 and described as a fundholder, was living back in Devon. She and
her spinster sister Hannah MUGFORD, aged 79, both described as born in Exeter, were living
with a visiting 81 year old nurse named Elizabeth MITCHEL, and a female servant, in 13 Sivell
Square, close to Fore Street, Heavitree, on the eastern edge of the City of Exeter

Sources:

1841 British Census, East Street, Ashburton, Devonshire

Reg. District:	Newton Abbot	Sub District:	Ashburton
Parish:	Ashburton	Enum. District:	
Ecclesiastical District:		City/Municipal Borough:	Ashburton
Address:	East Street, Ashburton, Devonshire

BECK, Nathan		 M	45	1796		Devon
BACK, Sarah		 F	45	1796		Devon
BACK, Emma		 F	15	1826		Devon
BACK, Susan		 F	15	1826		Devon
BACK, Sarah		 F	9	1832		Devon
BACK, George		 M	5	1836		Devon
BACK, Lavinia		 F	3	1838		Devon
MUGFORD, Sarah		 F	55	1786		Devon
BLACK, Sarah		 F	20	1821		Devon

1851 British Census, 41 New Rd, Stepney, Middlesex

Civil Parish: Stepney, Middlesex
Address: 41 New Rd, Stepney, Middlesex

Thomas Smerdon	Head	70	Custom Clerk	Devon, Ashburton
Sarah Smerdon	Wife	70			Devon, Ashburton
Sarah Grover	Nurse	69	Nurse Servant	Berfordshire
Margaret Macnameer Serv	21	House Servant	Ireland

BMD Marriage Index

Smerdon	Thomas 	Marriages	Dec 1846	London 	2	189	 
Mugford	Sarah 	Marriages	Dec 1846	London 	2	189